I develop apps for other people. Often they will come to me with their app idea and their dream to make a lot of money on the app store. Seldom have they actually done any research on the app store about their potential competition.
I came across an article today that was well thought out in this regard. http://timcascio.wordpress.com/2009/09/03/how-to-determine-which-of-your-iphone-app-ideas-has-the-most-merit/ The key part I am quoting below. On a side note, for me, the lack of the ability to examine the competitive landscape is the biggest reason that I have not done anything for the Android platform. You have to have a device, and a cell plan to support it in order to browse the Android store.
"Close evaluation of the competition is critical and often forgotten step. You can have strong development, design and great marketing, but overlooking the competition can prove fatal.
The iPhone App Store is an open book with over 65,000 apps. Use this to your advantage. Scour the store for apps that appear to compete with yours.
Download free and paid versions to kick the tires.
Focus first on those with the highest number of reviews.
Read the reviews to see what people like about the apps and what they don’t.
Pay close attention to the feature requests.
Read the application descriptions to see how your competition is positioning their app and consider how you should differentiate yourself.
Make comparison of pricing and feature sets offered by your competitors.
Once you’ve identified your short list of competing apps, search Google to see how those apps are being promoted outside of the App Store via YouTube, Twitter, forums, publicity and websites.
Create a competing apps spreadsheet or database to capture all of your competitor information in one place and update frequently over time."
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