Feel Like Everything These Days Has Been Invented?
iPhone Applications – Sea of Opportunities for Inventors
Are you tired of feeling disappointed every time you do a patent search on a new revolutionary idea you have, only to find out its already been patented?
Maybe even just a month or two ago?!…
I’ve been there.
Every entrepreneur and inventor is looking for their own ground to stake in today’s world, and leave a mark. We want to use our skills to give back to the world and create something that will help society, but alot of times we find these ideas already patented by big name companies or people with PhD’s, who quite frankly… usually have the proper exposure to have the same idea’s as us, except much earlier.
This is a critical time in the world where intellectual property is becoming more and more valuable, and PhD’s are being churned out of our institutions at a rapid pace. Technology is advancing with the momentum of a runaway freight train.
What does this all mean?
It means… that to really make a difference in the technology, medical, or any science field, you have to be at the forefront of that field.
Meaning you need to be working for the big players or have a PhD.
It’s the purpose of universities and huge corporations to come up with new discoveries, new methods, applications, etc… and with billions of dollars to spend and thousands of people on the payroll, they have an extreme competitive advantage over the solo inventor/engineer.
Not always, but most of the time.
However…
I have noticed there is still a huge untapped market for iPhone applications.
From an engineering standpoint, the iPhone is a mini data-acquisition device.
It can detect motion, sound, light… meaning it can do so many things today’s hardware devices currently do. Devices that were created with a patent and a ton of money to manufacture and develop.
Many old-school companies haven’t caught on to this trend, and so if you look at many very useful devices, it is easy to see they can be replicated on the iPhone.
But they arent.
For example, lets take an accelerometer for a car. Many amateur and professional racers buy these to get feedback on car performance.
A few years ago, if you wanted this feature you needed to buy a specific piece of hardware for $50 or more… or it would come built in into a data-managing type computer such as the Greddy eManage Ultimate.
I saw my friend with the same feature on his iPhone when the iPhone first came out. I even believe the app was free.
So for those out there who have great ideas, but believe they’ve all been acted or patented upon… don’t forget to look into smart phone applications. You may just be looking at a huge untapped market.
As far as patenting goes, I got advice on that from a corporate lawyer here in San Diego today, who said that the 18 months average time for a patent to go through the system just isn’t a reasonable time-to-profit investment for software.
Now this isn’t true in all cases, but if you think about how fast technology is changing… the best idea is to create an app and get people using it ASAP. This will also make you the market leader in the beginning (big advantage), and while I’m not a patent expert… in most cases its just better to pay the $35 or so to get your software copyrighted.
Good resource on the development process
To find developers to write your app, a good source is Elance.com. Click here to visit the site.