Quote:
Originally Posted by Greg Marra
I am slightly worried about fragmentation. There are now two FRC iPhone apps, both of which are closed source. Are we doing ourselves a disservice by not collaborating to create the single best experience for students, mentors, and parents that we can?
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Greg, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. People see a need and they fill it, it's as simple as that. There's actually already at least 4 different iPhone apps, and they all do something different.
Mike and I created this app for a few reasons. First, we both wanted to learn about development for the iPhone and Android. Second, we wanted an app to make the process of following team rankings easier than just constantly reloading FIRST's rankings page on the phone over and over. To my knowledge, no other apps offer that, so that seemed like a need we could fill.
Really, I don't think this is any different than the multitude of websites that are available as resources for people in FIRST. The existence of CD, usfirst.org, and FIRSTwiki didn't stop you from creating thebluealliance.net... because you saw a need that wasn't quite fulfilled by any of the other sites out there and you had the time, knowledge, and interest to do it.