Apps are big business, or they’re not. There seems to be very little middle ground. Either your mobile app makes it huge, or it disappears without trace in the marketplace, and there seems to be no logic to how it works. Maybe it’s a bit like life in that way? What makes it even more difficult is the cost and difficulty of getting your app idea developed, if you can find a coder willing and able to do it.

The Appsplit site is a Kickstarter for app development, in that it lets you post your idea, raise funds from ‘the crowd’ and get it created with minimum risk. At that point it’s all easy profit. Well that’s the theory anyway.

The service also features a marketplace where you can sell your app to the highest bidder, although by the looks of some of the high prices asked for deals, the developers appear to be living in a land full of unicorns and fairy dust. It’s also not totally clear whether it’s a fixed price or auction style market, since there’s a Sale Price box alongside a Best Offer section.

Successful sales appear to be mostly around the sub $100 mark, which is as you’d probably expect from a new site, so budding sellers may need to adjust their expectations a little until the site picks up more traction. The site also has a collaboration section where you can find people to help create your app, which is another neat way to help fund an idea. The concept lets you donate part of the ownership of the app to designers and/or coders, instead of having to offer hard cash.

As you’d expect, this Development Campaign section relies heavily on the idea, so it’s a good one you’re more likely to get some talent to back it with their time and expertise. Again from the looks of things, most of the ideas are pretty mundane or have been done before, which could explain the fairly large number of unsuccessful projects. It’s early days though, which also could explain why there are more iOS than Android apps on offer.

Overall, the idea is sound and the implementation looks very good for a startup. It’s easy to navigate the site and the search facility works nicely. There is a slight glitch with performance however, which delivers an unfortunate black screen on navigation, which can become a tad annoying, but that’s probably a server issue which could be fixed with some decent caching or whatever.

The app graphic thumbnails are also a little sub-optimal in places, which makes the site look a little shabby in places, which is a shame, because it’s a simple fix to mandate that members upload high quality graphics for their entries.

As will all of these new crowdfunding type services, it’s all about the traffic, so the more they get, the more value it will deliver. Right now the site needs to generate more buzz from both buyers and sellers, if it’s to attract a significant audience, and of course that’s always the problem. Maybe they should do a Kickstarter funding drive? No wait…