How is iPhone app development and creating Droid apps like The Pinewood Derby?

Like a lot of young boys in my town (and probably yours), I was in the Cub Scouts. Other than the camping trips, one of the banner events of the Cub Scouts each year is the Pinewood Derby.

You may have heard of the Soapbox Derby, where a large box the size of a wagon is assembled and raced down a hill while you sit in the car and drive. The Pinewood Derby is basically the miniature version of this. Kids in the Cub Scouts are given a block of pine wood (hence the name Pinewood Derby) that is about six inches long, two inches wide, and two inches high. The block has grooves cut into the bottom, and comes with a pin and wheels. Other than that, it's basically a block of wood.

To be in the Pinewood Derby, you cut, whittle, saw, or sand away this block of wood, and make a car. The races are held on a small track, and in our case, it was in our school cafeteria from a lunch table. Three or four cars can race at a time, and the winner is the one who gets to the bottom of the hill first.

The rules of the Pinewood Derby are pretty much that each Cub Scout has to make his own car, without help, and, in my case, I took this quite literally. Although my dad was and is very good with tools, he didn't help me, and I crafted my car completely on my own.

To say that my car was a disaster is an understatement, and when I came into the cafeteria, I am thankful that my friends showed mercy on me and my horrible looking brown block of wood that i called a car. Did you see the car in the picture? Mine looked NOTHING like that! When we did some tests for each car, mine rolled about six inches and stopped. I had no chance at all of even competing with the other cars.

See, most of the other kids had help in the design or crafting of their car. They were not experts at using tools or aerodynamics, but they knew someone, usually their dad, who was. And the end result showed it, especially compared to mine.

Fast forward to 2011, and there is another form of the Pinewood Derby going on - app development. You may have a great idea for an app, and you may think that an app for the iPhone or Droid, no matter how it looks, will be well received just because it's a good idea.

But that's not necessarily the case.  When you develop an app, taking it from the idea phase to the implementation phase, you are likely not the all around skill person who can do the nuts and bolts type programming of the app.  Just like when I was ten years old, I didn't have the skills required to build a really good looking Pinewood Derby car, and should have called in someone who did, there are others who you can call in to help you make your idea of an app become reality, and make it a good one.

And it's not as complicated or costly as you think.  If you follow a plan, just like when you build a Pinewood Derby car, anyone can develop a great iPhone or Droid app!

Just don't make the mistake of thinking you can do it all on your own, and show up to the App Store, the Pinewood Derby of what you're doing, and realize that you have an inferior product.  Do it the right way, and you can have success!