Let’s say you just started up a small business that could really benefit from a custom app—but you don’t have the spare cash to hire a bunch of programmers or the know-how to build it yourself.
That’s exactly the situation Holly Shore, a former fashion model turned entrepreneur, found herself in as she tried to grow her online health site. “I just thought it was inaccessible for me to create my own app,” she says. “I hadn’t even considered doing it.”
As you’ll read over on the Fire Hose blog, the Austin, Texas-based mother of two eventually solved her dilemma by turning to Windows Phone App Studio, a beginner-friendly tool designed to help just about anybody create their own Windows Phone app. Already more than 200,000 people have used App Studio to create over 85,000 apps, notes Microsoft’s Bryan Tomlinson. The tool, which debuted last August, should appeal to everyone from students and hobbyists to career changers and small business owners like Shore. “This gives them a chance to get started,” Tomlinson says.
It did for Shore, who in less than two hours cobbled together an app that, with just a little bit more tweaking, would be ready to submit to the Windows Phone Store for approval. The Fire Hose blog has more about her experience—and check out the video below to see Shore herself explain how she did it.