"The creation of ID card is generally done with photoshop and separately edited for each card"
I've actually never seen this done. The schools and companies in my area all have systems that integrate the picture taking with the identity information and automatically print a card. What you're describing simply requires too much skill and time.
So you've built a product, but you're competing with packaged systems. I did a quick search and picked the first (non-ad) link: http://www.idsecurityonline.com/photo-id-systems/?gclid=CI2s.... It looks to me like you assumed you'd found a niche market without realizing the breadth of competition. Sorry ... and good luck.
I'm guessing from the author's writing that he/she isn't from the US. A quick stalking suggests India. This is important because the the market is much different in places with low labor costs and many eager and able workers. For example, cutting grass next to the highway in the US is usually done something like this: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4710027673_eff0b14e9e.jp... (with a tractor) but in other countries it is often done like this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lWs-yzp5oV0/Tn93Q7_ZQwI/AAAAAAAAAL... (with a "weed whacker").
This matters because we cannot think of the software in question as having the power to reduce costs by very much. If Photoshop is being used, it may be an unlicensed copy, and if a person has to do this job 10 hours a week, it may cost about 1200 USD per year.
What you say is true. But ... bosses are loathe to spend money when the current solution works "adequately" in their assessment. That's why they'll buy more weed whackers than a new tractor - to use your example. The tractor salesman would generally be disappointed.
An Indian friend told me a story. In India, it's cheaper to pay someone to come to your house, drive a nail into a wall, and hang a painting for you than to buy a hammer.
Same goes for conference badges, which is similar. There is dedicated hardware (printer that fits the size of the badge) which is sold together with its accompanying software.
Consider that programming it made you learn new things!
This, pretty much. At my school(s) the cards are generated automatically from registration on Moodle/WebSurf/WebPortal, and are printed from machines built specially for the purpose. I mean, one of the schools I'm talking about has 25,000 students, with at least a 20% churn rate every year. That's a lot of cards, they're not doing it in photoshop, sorry man. Cool product, good application of skills, though!
That's why whenever I get a neat idea (after "Oh, I can't believe I've never seen this kind of app around, it would be awesome to build it!" moments) I always do an extensive market research. It helps with two things:
1) You don't get disappointed that much to see others also have thought of it before (comparing to the shocking moment of discovering that someone else has already done it better by the time you are almost finishing your product).
2) It helps me to look/analyze what my kind of different ideas my competitors have thought about the product. If they have a crappier version of what I have in mind, then I am happy to see that there is an actual potential to beat them. If they are in a far better condition, then I force myself to think "what else could be added to this". If there is not much idea I can extent the product into, usually I give up since there is not much point of wasting time.
Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare.
Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rareLooking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare.
Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare
Comments
"The creation of ID card is generally done with photoshop and separately edited for each card"
I've actually never seen this done. The schools and companies in my area all have systems that integrate the picture taking with the identity information and automatically print a card. What you're describing simply requires too much skill and time.
So you've built a product, but you're competing with packaged systems. I did a quick search and picked the first (non-ad) link: http://www.idsecurityonline.com/photo-id-systems/?gclid=CI2s.... It looks to me like you assumed you'd found a niche market without realizing the breadth of competition. Sorry ... and good luck.
I'm guessing from the author's writing that he/she isn't from the US. A quick stalking suggests India. This is important because the the market is much different in places with low labor costs and many eager and able workers. For example, cutting grass next to the highway in the US is usually done something like this: http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4007/4710027673_eff0b14e9e.jp... (with a tractor) but in other countries it is often done like this: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lWs-yzp5oV0/Tn93Q7_ZQwI/AAAAAAAAAL... (with a "weed whacker").
This matters because we cannot think of the software in question as having the power to reduce costs by very much. If Photoshop is being used, it may be an unlicensed copy, and if a person has to do this job 10 hours a week, it may cost about 1200 USD per year.
What you say is true. But ... bosses are loathe to spend money when the current solution works "adequately" in their assessment. That's why they'll buy more weed whackers than a new tractor - to use your example. The tractor salesman would generally be disappointed.
An Indian friend told me a story. In India, it's cheaper to pay someone to come to your house, drive a nail into a wall, and hang a painting for you than to buy a hammer.
Same goes for conference badges, which is similar. There is dedicated hardware (printer that fits the size of the badge) which is sold together with its accompanying software.
Consider that programming it made you learn new things!
This, pretty much. At my school(s) the cards are generated automatically from registration on Moodle/WebSurf/WebPortal, and are printed from machines built specially for the purpose. I mean, one of the schools I'm talking about has 25,000 students, with at least a 20% churn rate every year. That's a lot of cards, they're not doing it in photoshop, sorry man. Cool product, good application of skills, though!
That's why whenever I get a neat idea (after "Oh, I can't believe I've never seen this kind of app around, it would be awesome to build it!" moments) I always do an extensive market research. It helps with two things:
1) You don't get disappointed that much to see others also have thought of it before (comparing to the shocking moment of discovering that someone else has already done it better by the time you are almost finishing your product). 2) It helps me to look/analyze what my kind of different ideas my competitors have thought about the product. If they have a crappier version of what I have in mind, then I am happy to see that there is an actual potential to beat them. If they are in a far better condition, then I force myself to think "what else could be added to this". If there is not much idea I can extent the product into, usually I give up since there is not much point of wasting time.
Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare. Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rareLooking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare. Looking at it another way, the existence of the packaged systems probably validates the market and the developer's intuition that it scales. Likewise, his experience that people use Photoshop to hand craft ID's shows that it is underserved.
Sure, a Windows app won't own the market. But there are may be many small organizations within and without the education sector that could streamline their organizations - conference organizers, wedding planners, caterers etc. Think mom_and_pop with XP not organizations with IT. Think Bingo Card Creator[that's HNer Patrick McKenzie]
There's money in the long tail where integrated solutions and government contracts are rare
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