"My Dream App" Contest Looks for Innovative Ideas

WebKnowHow
Tuesday, August 22, 2006; 05:18 AM

Software entrepreneur Phill Ryu announced the "My Dream App" project, a new competition that invites participants to submit their best ideas for a killer app. Contestants will compete for a chance to have their idea realized as a Macintosh shareware application and earn royalties on software sales, as well as take home one of many MacBook and iPod prizes available.

Source: http://mydreamapp.com

Forty popular Mac developers, well-known bloggers, established members of the tech media, top-notch UI designers and even Apple alumni have signed on to My Dream App as guest judges to offer expert critique during the event. Judges include Digg.com founder Kevin Rose, New York Times columnist and best-selling author David Pogue, former Apple evangelist Guy Kawasaki and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak.

"It's always fun when someone innovates in the computer world. My Dream App is doing that by turning software design and development on its head. It's going to be interesting to see how this all turns out," Wozniak said.

Ryu believes that My Dream App will mark a revolution in software development. "My Dream App will do for software users what American Idol did for aspiring singers. All it takes to win is a really great idea, and you don't even have to be a Mac user," Ryu said. "We're democratizing software."

The initial entries will be narrowed down to two dozen finalists by the My Dream App development team. Visitors of the site will then vote to decide which app ideas stay in competition and which get eliminated until three winning ideas remain. Constant feedback from guest judges and users will enable finalists to improve upon their original idea. Each finalist will maintain a blog on the My Dream App website to document progress.

Experienced Macintosh developers Jason Harris of Unsanity (ShapeShifter), Austin Sarner (AppZapper) and Martin Ott (SubEthaEdit) will develop the three winning ideas into OS X shareware applications, and development will be managed by software vet and two-time Apple Design Award winner John Casasanta of Inventive (iClip).

The submission period is open from Aug. 21, 2006 through Sept. 1, 2006. After all submissions are reviewed, finalists will be announced. The first week of user voting will start on Sept. 21, 2006.