IT hack creates his own iPhone app – Stuck4Words

Rating: reminiscent of music journos forming their own bands

Journalist are habitually accused of over-hyping the iPhone,  so legendary electronics hack,  David Manners, has decided to go that one step further. He’s created his own iPhone app (with a couple of mates) entitled Stuck4Words.

Actually, David has managed to combine a whole host of skills – journalism, social engineering, marketing and IT savvy – into one product. Basically Stuck4words gets the socially inept out of sticky situations when they haven’t a clue what to say.

So Mr Manners’s gang has probably succeeded in creating a whole new class of mbile application. It’s probably going to be labelled social skills enhancement. Or Apps-4-Geeks.

With Stuck4words, the clever journalism bit comes with the fact that Manners hopes to pull what us Oldies would describe as the Chuck Berry ploy. That’s when Berry had a smash hit by virtue of his record being banned by the BBC.

In David Manners’ case, in his blog (here) he’s rather hoping that the Chinese will ban the app or that Greenpeace will demonstrate against it. Perhaps he can get Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross to slate it?

In terms of marketing, besides from picking the iPhone as the initial launch platform, the Manners crew have decided to price Stuck4words competitively. A mere 59 pence in the UK and a mere 99 cents in the US of A.

Significantly this app does require its purchasers to be running the very latest version 3.1.2 which Manners assures GoMo News only came out a month or so ago.

The other two members of the Stuck4Words posse – Steven Dow and Stephen Jones - have vowed to spill the beans on just how difficult it is to create an iPhone app when software development really isn’t your primary skill set. Uploading the app to Apple’s App Store caused headaches, for example.

Those who might be tempted to splash the cash should search for ‘S4W” on the App Store. Plus there’s a web site dedicated to the product here.

Find a way to test this app should prove very challenging, of course.