With the increase in smartphone usage for work, third-party developers have built applications to access web-based 37 signals products via mobile platforms. One such app is Backpocket – a Backpack client for iPhone, built by Singapore-based developer, Shannon Low.
Backpack is essentially a web-based Intranet for businesses, to store, share and discuss notes, photos, to-dos. Featured in the 37signals product blog, Backpocket aims to provide easy access to Backpack, manage multiple accounts, work offline and sync changes.
Speaking to e27, Low shares about his product philosophies behind building this app and what sets it apart from other Backpack iPhone apps.
Q: First of all, why did you decide to make an iPhone app for Backpack, when there are few apps available that do the same thing?
We use 37signals’ Backpack a lot ourselves, both to help organise our business and to keep track of personal stuff. So we searched the iPhone app store for a Backpack client app and when we did, we only found one such app available. We tried it out and weren’t happy with the user experience, the interface and the way it worked. It also seemed overpriced for a Backpack client app, so we decided to build our own Backpack app – Backpocket – that we would be happy to use and pay for.
Q: How’s your app different from other iPhone Backpack apps
We focused on the mobile user experience for Backpocket, so instead of trying to duplicate the entire set of Backpack features on the iPhone, we decided to focus on the features we used the most while on the go. This turned out to be creating and editing pages, notes and lists on the go, and being able to preview page content on one screen. We basically re-thought the mobile user experience for Backpack and designed a simple and consistent interface for Backpocket, so that common actions a user does on Backpack become intuitive and easy to perform on Backpocket through habit and muscle memory. It’s not easy to describe, but we feel that the overall user experience in Backpocket is an improvement over existing apps.
Q: What are some of your personal product philosophies that you applied while building this app?
“Do less”, or “underdo your competition” was a key philosophy we applied. Again, focusing on the mobile user experience, we wanted to do away with some features that we felt weren’t so commonly used while on the go (as opposed to sitting in front of the computer), so that the user interface could become simpler and more intuitive.
“Scratch your own itch” was another product philosophy we applied. Here, we had a need of our own and weren’t happy with what was already out there, so we decided to build something that we wanted to use ourselves. Being our own target users, we had a pretty good idea of how we’d like to use Backpocket and what kind of experience we wanted to have.
“Go niche” was a strategy we followed very consciously, by targeting the growing number of 37signals Backpack users and more specifically, the proportion of those who want to use Backpack on the go.
“Start with pen and paper” was our design philosophy for Backpocket. Before we started substantial development on Backpocket, we planned the features, interface, user flow and user experience with detailed pen and paper mockups so that we could visualise and figure out how to build the user experience we wanted. In the case of iPhone app development, we found that the way you build an app depends a lot on how the interface is going to work, so it was important to start development from the perspective of user experience and interface design.
Q: How many users do you have so far? and what are your plans for distribution?
We just launched Backpocket on 20 November, so it’s a little early to start counting users, but we’ve had about 100 paying users so far, and quite a few of them have written to us saying that they love the app, so that’s a pretty encouraging sign. We’re relying on the iPhone app store for distribution, with the app available in app stores worldwide. The majority of our users are from North America and Europe.
Q: Why did you decide to price the app at $1.99? Any reason behind it?
We looked at the competition and decided that what they were charging seemed overpriced and didn’t quite square up with what you were getting in an app. So we decided on a price that we would be happy to pay for, being Backpack users ourselves. We were kind of aiming for a “yeah, that seems like a reasonable price to give this app a try,” price point.
Q: Expansion to other platforms soon?
We’re thinking about an Android version of Backpocket, although that may come after some additional updates and refinements to our iPhone version, since this is our first release of the app and we’re getting lots of great feedback on it from our users.
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