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This week I shall be submitting buddhify to the iPhone appstore and all things going to plan, it will be live there and on the Android market by the end of the month.

A lot of people will like buddhify for the accessible, playful and inventive introduction to urban meditation that it is. There will however be a minority of people who will not like it for various reasons. When innovating in a space like meditation, this is totally normal and expected and so I am writing this post so as to pre-empt any criticism or questions people may have.

Ok so let’s have a look at what that might come up:

1. buddhify is trivialising meditation
buddhify is looking to fill a gap – an accessible and attractive introduction to urban meditation.  It is not a complete system nor pretends to be.  And it explicitly invites users to explore their interest in meditation further through existing channels out there.

2. buddhify is taking the name of Buddhism in vain
Ok so this name thing is important. I chose this name for two primary reasons. Firstly I find it frustrating that some mindfulness-based products & services which clearly have Buddhist origins or inspirations very rarely reference it and so buddhify very explicitly states its origin while it’s small b indicates that it’s not an actually Buddhist product. And the second reason is that I called it buddhify is because it’s just an incredibly catchy name.

3. meditation teaching should be free
If you’ve read this blog before, you’ll know my line on this is that sustainable is more important than free. Taking buddhify to market will have cost me thousands of pounts on top of the $4500 I raised through indiegogo and so I am pricing the app at a very affordable £1.99/$2.99 to give myself the chance of at least breaking even on the project. However if you would like the next 21awake product to be free then please do just invest some serious money in my company and I’ll more than happily do so.

4. buddhify doesn’t do X
It is what it is, an introduction to urban meditation and when producing any digital product, you have to limit scope. And the ways mobile apps work in particular is that they tend to do one thing rather than a million things. We had a lot more features “on the whiteboard” at the start of the project so had to refine down for the final scope.

5. meditation is best taught face-to-face not via digital media
I agree. Again, buddhify is not anywhere near a complete system but an introduction. And it explicitly says that if people want to take their interest forward they should find a course or class near them with a qualified teacher that has good references.

6. the meditation world has enough stuff and doesn’t need innovation
Like it or not, in the next few years mindfulness-based meditation is going to go through the roof. And with all things which get more interest we are going to see people seeing the market opportunity and start making new products to serve it. As “subject matter experts” we as a meditation and practice community cannot ignore what is coming but must engage with and help guide it. In ten years time do you want to look out at a marketplace full of rubbish meditation products and know that it happened on your watch? I sure as hell don’t.

7. buddhify is not very good
Given the budget I’ve had available and having to make this product around my day job(s), the first release of buddhify is as good as it can be and frankly, there’s nothing quite like it anywhere right now.  If you think it’s no good, then most likely you’re an existing meditator and therefore not the target market.  Some existing meditators may not find it particularly interesting since they probably know all the material already.

8. you are not a meditation teacher
buddhify is an introduction to basic urban meditation. I am not pretending to be a teacher but am shipping the app based on my eight years plus experience practising meditation in urban environments. And right now there are very few people in the world who have a good understanding of meditation and a good understanding of digital innovation and since I’m one of them I felt it an obligation to make this app.

9. I have a much better idea for a meditation-related app
Good, so go ahead and make it. Ideas are easy but development and delivery is not so if you want to make something better please do. buddhify is creating a new market for urban meditation and markets work best when there is competition so please make some.

That all said if you think the above sounds like an apology for having made buddhify it’s most certainly not.  The only thing I’m sorry about is that it’s not come out sooner