The next time a sportsperson, filmstar or celebrity pauses to give an autograph they may well be confronted with an iPhone to sign
That's the intention of Philip Wilson, the Northern Ireland entrepreneur who recently launched "Appographs" on the iPhone.
Appographs put a modern spin on the traditional autograph book concept. Pictures are preloaded and the stars signature recorded by writing with a finger on the iPhone screen. Fans are encouraged to collect appographs from the entire team and show them off to friends and family via email.
The app was launched with the Belfast Giants Ice Hockey team in December priced at £2.99 on the App Store. The business model is a simple revenue share model making it a win-win for all involved.
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Choose a player from the preloaded pictures
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Ask them to sign the screen
with their finger
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Choose how you want to save the appograph
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Philip plans to scale the business by signing agreements with 100 sports clubs within a year. Ambitious...yes, but Philip's in no shortage of that attribute and aims high. He commented "Appographs are resonating with all types of sports clubs and fans. I'm just back from three promising meetings in Nottingham where I pitched to the Elite Ice Hockey League, Notts CCC and Nottingham Forest. Expect to see more big name Appographs launched soon."
Philip's approach to business is all about collaboration teaming up with local company EyeSpyFX to develop the app. This enabled Philip to concentrate on sales and marketing whilst EyeSpyFX focused on the technical side & getting through Apple's certification process.
There's more to come from this story. Philip is working on a website to connect fans & has an offline strategy to produce printed "appograph books" for the younger generation without an iPhone or iPod Touch (yet).
It's easy to see how this could easily become a global product and craze - definately one to watch.
The Belfast Giants Appograph is available on the App Store now:
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