Appswell wants anyone to be able to help make an iPhone app:

The general idea is that lots of non-developers have good ideas for interesting iPhone apps, but they don’t have the resources to bring them into existence. Appswell lets people post descriptions of their ideas that other people can vote for or comment on. The site is simple, but it gets the job done. More interesting is the rewards system they have set up: if your idea gets the most votes on a given day, you’ll get a $10 iTunes gift card, and if you get the most in a week, $50. If your idea is chosen to be built, you’ll win $1000.

So…will it work? Well, I’m not sure. I’m reminded of a contest from 2007 called My Dream App, where developers worked to build some of the most popular ideas from an American Idol–style voting process. Unfortunately, nothing substantial ever materialized from it, and while it was interesting to watch the contest, the utter lack of tangible results was a big disappointment.

That being said, Appswell seems to have a lot more followthrough. They’ve already built and released two apps, UV Detector and Ivbeen, and have started work on a third. If they can keep on pumping out high quality apps, they might become one of the more innovative developers on the app store. I wish them luck. Follow them at @appswell, or check out their blog.