Posted August 22nd, 2010 by Cam Gross
An experimental team building an experimental app.That’s the one sentence description for how the Best Buy Iphone app (and Android app) came into being.
Large corporations like Best Buy are typically not known for their ability to experiment; or their tolerance for failure. They’re especially not known for their expertise in software design and development. In this sense our iPhone app project was really something of an anomaly. The project got started more than 18 months ago as an experiment with the realization that being involved in the mobile app world would be an important connection point between Best Buy and its customers. Indeed, the development team responsible for it’s creation was started as yet another experiment. Two experiments wrapped in an anomaly.
Build instead of buy
Best Buy, for better or worse, often chooses to buy solutions to it’s software challenges rather than to build them. Building software inside such a large organization with need to access key data systems can be a tough mountain to climb. This dynamic in particular added a large element of risk for us to put this team together. Our counterpoint to that risk was to organize in a way that leveraged trust and expertise and maximized the responsibility of each member. This model has led to some successes and certainly some failures but ultimately has led us to a higher level of quality (we feel) in the applications we’ve produced.
Posted March 21st, 2010 by Cam Gross
Just days away from 2010 International CTIA. Velocity has never been higher in our build team.
Best Buy IdeaX is filling with constructive ideas from our employees and customers – ideas that are getting serious attention from around the organization. In addition, the platform we built with BustOut Solutions is now an open source project called BBYIDX.
Twelpforce is answering thousands of customer questions with more than 2500 active employee Twelpers. We’re building some more efficient ways for customers and employees to view and manage these interactions on BBYFeed (Beta). We have a mobile web version in development.
Both of Best Buy’s core mobile applications are also gaining some steam.
iPhone:
Version 3.1 finally went live in the last couple days. (The Apple Appstore review process took a little longer this time around.) This new version includes a new feed of offers that can change daily. It also solves some of the app closing issues.
The next version is almost ready for Apple approval. It is slated to include, improved store locator, some user interface (UI) improvements, bug fixes, graceful interruptions and <insert drum roll> IMPROVED SEARCH. We are very excited about that.
Posted March 2nd, 2010 by Cam Gross
We are very fortunate that the first users of the Best Buy Android app care enough to take the time to comment. It is motivating to us to get such instantaneous feedback- both positive and negative. For the users that make comments about what we should add or what expectations were missed, we can only hope that we can build fast enough.
We made a conscious choice to release our application with limited features. Doing so would allow us to get a functional application into the Market sooner and would provide users something tangible on which to comment. It was our hope that users would tell us which features were most important to them.
We get our comments and feedback on several fronts including:
- The Market- these are the comments that users make in the Market listing when they download the application. You can see these comments here.
- Best Buy IdeaX- we have a “Current” on IdeaX that is all about recommendations for our Android Application.
- This Blog – Your comments to our entries here are reviewed regularly
- Email – From within the application, we take comments via email to bbyandroid@gmail.com
Posted February 11th, 2010 by Cam Gross
Best Buy Android App Splash Screen
This week, our team published Best Buy’s first application for the Android platform. It is a beginning. We look at it as a work in progress. Can we call it “beta?”
Scan this with your Android phone to download app.
We have a lengthy list of features and user stories we are working to implement. For now, our first release includes: search, browse, add to cart, complete purchase (through Best Buy’s Mobile website), and the beginnings of some offer delivery on the home screen. Our process is one that encourages the release of a “work-in-progress” for users to try and provide feedback. It is this feedback that will guide the priorities in future releases.
Features at the top of our list include:
* MORE OFFERS!
* Store locator
* Improve search
* Add Reward Zone features
* More offers
After that, the pile of ideas we are working to develop is tall. They are just ideas. Ultimately, we are hoping to get guidance from users and their preferences to determine the features we should add next. If you have ideas, please feel free to email us (bbyandroid@gmail.com), comment here, or post your suggestions on IdeaX.
Posted August 20th, 2009 by Cam Gross
It has bugs. It’s a major bummer.
Our Weekly Deals iPhone app has it’s share of problems. Most notably, it doesn’t seem to display weekly deals. That rating of “1″ on the AppStore is probably generous at this moment. We are aware.
The most frustrating part is that the app worked fine prior to committing the new version to the AppStore.
We are working to reveal if the problem is in the code or if the issue is in the service from which the application calls the deal information and digital assets.
On behalf of all of us, thank you for your comments, your candid feedback, and (hopefully) your patience. We look forward to sharing a completed application that works well and brings value to your experience and service from Best Buy.
Update 8/20/09 2:26 p.m – We discovered that the weekly deals did not appear due to a combination of human error and horrible timing. This is not to say that all the problems are fixed. Just know we are working on fixes. Our roadmap is long and our process is iterative. We hope to earn “Most Improved App” accolades and strong ratings in the near future.
