Contextual Apps – Jamie Takes the Cake!
I am so excited about this new app – I just have to share. Originally, I sat down to write about my favorite apps for iPhone and was going to list the handful I use most often. Then I wanted to make the post weightier and discovered about 20 that I would recommend to a friend. But after downloading Jamie’s 20 Minute Meals for iPhone – we don’t need to talk about 20 apps – just this one, because it’s so much better than the rest and, for me, this is game changing.
It all boils down to this: I’d rather buy one really satisfying app for $8-10 than 10 not-so-great apps for $.99. More to the point, I don’t need the 50+ apps on my phone, that I use once or twice before losing interest. The trouble is most 3rd party apps to date feel like they were designed for teenage boys rather than for me (I’m referring to point and shoot games, racing games, iFart, Mouth-Off (no offense guys! and hey even negative publicity helps, right?) – well, you get the idea. Then there’s another group that seem unfinished, overly simple, one-trick pony’s. They aren’t complete enough and they don’t grab me because they don’t do anything outstanding.
Assuming developers would prefer to sell more apps at a higher price point – let me tell you why I like this app so much. First, I feel I got real value for money. The app has very high production values and is well designed for the mobile context. The whole premise of 20 minute meals appeals from the start. Then there is the gorgeous food photography, video tutorials, and casual graphics style iconic of Jamie’s books. From the very first welcome video(!) – it’s a very comfortable, casual, and personal experience. (Jamie has scripted this as if he’s speaking with you in your kitchen.)
Secondly, I love the shopping list feature! Of course, as you select recipes, you can add the ingredients to a shopping list which you can organize by recipe (the default) or by Grocery Aisle (which also aggregates ingredients from multiple recipes – nice!). Then you can mail the entire list to your partner(!) or use it yourself at the store, crossing items off as you go. The shopping list feature actually makes this app more useful to me than a cookbook – because I can carry the phone from kitchen to market and back – and this helps get the meal on the table faster.
Finally, there’s my favorite feature (I call it “Shake & Bake”), where you shake the iPhone and a random recipe appears – now that’s a cool feature when you just can’t decide what to make for dinner!
And speaking of dinner, it’s about time to stop talking about this new app and go put it to work! If there’s any truth in advertising – I should be back in about 20 minutes 
