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I like the concept and it seems like it would make it easier to get an app going.

One criticism I have is not so much about the concept but the signup page. On your signup page you have that mini f.a.q. I think around a couple of those questions sound like they're coming from a skeptic. Your signup page shouldn't focus at all on the negative and I would probably even move the faq to a different screen all together. That screen is about funneling people into the service, not answering their questions.

Questions I think you can get rid of:

"Why isn't StorageRoom free?" -I have to pay for it, so should you, Jerk. The world isn't free.

"How does the 30 Day trial work?" - It's a 30 trial. You don't have to pay till you've been using it for a month. Haven't you ever seen an infomercial? Are you even smart enough to write code?

"What browsers work with StorageRoom?" - StorageRoom is a modern web app and, if you're planning on giving me money, you should trust that I put the time in to test on more than one browser. This isn't 1996 anymore you can't get away with "Optimized for Netscape Navigator 2.5 and later on and 800x600 resolution"... c'mon, seriously?

"Do I get a 30 day free trial if I upgrade?" - No, you cheap bastard! You already know what the service is like. You don't need to figure out if you like it or not. If you decide you need to increase your capabilities, that's on you.

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Sorry for the snark (well, not really... well, maybe a little.) You shouldn't be trying to argue an imaginary skeptic. You should be trying to tell us why your awesome product is so awesome.

Good luck!

This is great. I will try to implement this in the next release.

This is good advice. Any FAQ on the signup page ought to be encouraging actions more than trying to scare them off e.g. "Can I use my Storageroom account for client projects" "Can I manage all my webapps under one plan?"

If you are asking questions on browser support I'd think the most important one would be to clarify that it's not iPhone/Android specific

You probably also need to think more about your target audience - is it more of a WordPress for mobile data (in which case the focus should be on ease of use) or a Rails/Django for mobile data (in which case RESTful JSON API probably is a key selling point)? As you're potentially appealing to both groups possibly separate tours for different use cases would work "StorageRoom for Publishers: content creation for non-programmers", "StorageRoom for Developers: develop in your preferred language and we'll handle the backend for you"

I think if the FAQ were to be replaced with your copy, I would want to sign up even more. Haha.

I didn't like the fact that the screenshots are deliberately blurred. You should obfuscate the relevant input fields only, or better yet just fill them with non-sensitive data (if that was the reasoning behind the blur). Otherwise, cool app, nice site! :-)

i agree -

The screenshots are from an unfinished ugly prototype. I thought I blur them, otherwise ppl would have seen them and said they look terrible. Before I finalize the application I wanted to get some feedback first.

It probably was the wrong choice, I will post the original screenshots with the next deploy.

My company — workhabit — has been building the same services for Drupal (which is one of the major platforms we do). We have a full iOS SDK we call DiOS (Drupal iOS), which basically allows you to plug Drupal as data services into any iOS application.

Of course it's Open Source: http://github.com/workhabitinc/drupal-ios-sdk

We're going to be adding some white label applications and "officially" releasing it later in November with a new site launch (as well as an Android followup), but it's definitely another approach to this. We wanted to do something to connect the HUGE open source system Drupal to the colossal iOS and Android markets, and after a few months work, here it is.

Hopefully it could be a useful alternative for those of you interested. We also have a testkit here which makes it easy to debug your sites: http://github.com/workhabitinc/drupal-ios-sdk-example

Love some feedback from HN about it.

To the original poster, I think it's a good idea. There are a lot of competitors out there, and there is a lot of momentum in the space to connect up mobile apps and web to things. I would definitely test-market and see if there is interest. Personally, I think your idea may have merit — there is a giant demand for data services on phones, and anything that makes it easier would be great. I would encourage you to look at models where you could drop the "whole kit and kaboodle" because I think data services are going to commoditize extremely quickly.

I think I have worked out what your app does:

* developer builds an iPhone app

* end-user provides some content for that app

* developer doesn't want the hassle of updating the app

* end user has an online editor to edit the content

- app updates itself

* developer sits on beach sipping daquiris <-- THE BENEFITS

If that is the case then the front-page should show it in the picture:

* a user with their phone

* a developer with the app

* the end-user customer with their CMS editor

If this is a correct description of the app then YOUR CUSTOMER is the developer and the tour page should then heavily feature Daquiris, instead of regular expressions. Getting high from regular expressions is about as lame as smoking dried banana skins :)

Replace "end user" with "a member of your team that edits the content" and your description is correct.

I don't know if the developer will then be sipping daquiris at the beach if he doesn't have to take care about managing the content himself, but he will have more time for more important work :).

Why not end-user? They hate dealing with your for changes more than you hate dealing with them...

I'm a hypothetical iPhone App developer. Catch my attention and interest: You need something concrete to catch me and have me say "Yes! This solves a problem that is annoying me already." I don't think that is sufficiently communicated on your website.

Why should I trust you? You're just a tiny business, and will probably go bankrupt any minute. Can you calm me down? Or do you want to avoid waking sleeping dogs?

You say you offer a very nice data entry solution like a CMS, and a nice REST API. That sounds interesting, but if I haven't overcome my fears from above, can you maybe separate them and have them access a database that I let Amazon run for me?

(This is a summary of a discussion on the #startups IRC channel.)

Separating the application itself from the database is an interesting idea. But then you would still need to host a database yourself somewhere. If you don't trust me you must also be afraid of me messing up your own database with my solution (My solution would need write access).

A lot of mobile application developers are probably not experts in server management and backups. It is not their priority and core competence. They want to build great applications quickly.

My solution gives them an easy to use CMS with a REST API for a low monthly cost, and they don't have to care about backing up data themselves. If they don't fully trust me, they can export their data from the CMS regularly themselves, so in a worst case scenario they still have their content.

I think that's a great idea. From here on, it will come down to marketing.

You may want to offer a self-hosted version as well (sell it), to allay fears that one day you'll go away.

Why are the screenshots blurry?

Thanks for the feedback.

I blurred the screenshots as they didn't look nice. I just have an ugly prototype so far. I wanted to ask for more feedback and validate the market more before spending more time on making the system nicer.

Currently you cannot sign up. You can only enter your email in a list and get notified when the product launches.

Cool. Still, I wouldn't blur them. I think this is a difficult market to be in. Think back to all the hosted CMS's in the past. If there is really demand, there will be a free solution that you run yourself.

A free self-hosted solution is definitely competition. But many people will probably still think it is convenient to use a hosted service and pay for it.

It's the same with Gmail, salesforce, 37signals products and many other services. There are almost always free open-source alternatives, but not everybody wants to deal with installation, hosting and maintenance of those solutions.

Clickable: http://storageroomapp.com

this is very interesting. there is definitely demand for this - our corporate clients are always asking for a way to easily update the iPad apps we create for them. email us: hello - [@] - fiplab . com

37signals is flattered [said with a SMILE : ), everyone!]

Honestly, this looks a little bit like CouchDB + x to me

It's MongoDB, not CouchDB. And imho the benefit is that you don't have to host it yourself and you don't have to write the "x", the nice interface to manage all that data.

Because it is great to have the data in your database, but how do you or better an editor change it (I think hackers don't like editing content all day long and editors don't like to enter content in something like phpmyadmin).

I said couchDB because it also uses REST and already has an web-based administration interface with "futon"

Thanks for the reply. I didn't know futon. It seems to be something like a phpmyadmin for CouchDB, isn't it?

Futon/phpmyadmin are great for entering or checking data as a developer or system administrator, but I think they are too complicated and technical for the average non-techie to manage content. That's why I built my solution.

Or can you configure Futon to have a really simple interface and also force it to only allow entry for specific keys in a document?

It's an alternative to a backend GAE app or Heroku.

Ask HN: Review my startup: Storage Room - A CMS for Mobile Apps