CNBC Business | WORKING SMARTER

WORKING SMARTER

With more than 150,000 apps available at the Apple Store alone, competition to build a successful smartphone app is fi erce. John Brandon asks two start-ups and tech experts the secrets of making it in a crowded marketplace

KEEP YOUR BUSINESS RUNNING SMOOTHLY

Training for the Chicago Marathon in 2007, Jason Jacobs became frustrated that he could not use just one device to track where he was running, at what speed, and for how long. The distance runner knew that he could use a dedicated GPS device, a calorie tracker, and other software to track his run, but wanted to perform these actions on one piece of equipment. His timing could not have been better. The iPhone, which supports complex software routines and has a built-in GPS, was just about to ship.

“During that training, I was frustrated with existing tech to track and manage my training both as far as the input itself and the system around the device on the web,” says Jacobs. “My vision was to build a system that integrated with different devices and technology so that regardless of what you use to collect the data there is a system and a community around it to deal with social pressure and motivation [of training].”

Jacobs wanted to make the activity fun and drive people to keep training. He decided to utilise the iPhone’s built-in GPS to allow users to track duration, distance, pace, speed, elevation, calories burned, and path travelled without having to buy a separate device, such as the popular Nike Plus software.

With the help of a contractor and a few engineers who already had day jobs, Jacobs created FitnessKeeper Inc. and built the RunKeeper app, with the initial coding taking just six weeks. Initially, the app was released in 35 countries; today, Jacobs says the company has four full-time employees and revenues in 2009 of over $500,000 (€355,000).

“You have to start with a pain,” says Jacobs, suggesting that there has to be an actual felt need for an app and not simply a gap in the market,. Once the app has been created, Jacobs says app fi rms must set up a nexus where customers can contact the company and post on forums, and support the app by creating an infrastructure that works and runs reliably. Jacobs says that such foundations help grow the product, adding that too many app companies start up with an idea and then can’t support the requests that come in or fail build a real company around the product.

RunKeeper has now been downloaded more than one million times and Jacobs is already talking about building another app and upgrading the existing service.

GET LOCAL KNOWLEDGE

Harvard graduate Zak Tanjeloff was just 23 years old when he had the idea for a travel app that alerts you to interesting landmarks based on your current location. Wandering around the Harvard campus one day, Tanjeloff found himself wondering if there were any additional historical points of interests other than those well-marked by the university.

“I had just left my previous job working for an economist at Harvard and decided I wanted to try to do something on my own rather than searching for a job in this market,” says Tanjeloff. “I spent a few days watching demo videos from iTunes University and learned the basics [of programming]. From there, I brainstormed with my friends about concepts and eventually decided on a tour guide which would simply alert you when you are near to a landmark with information about it.”

Eventually, he developed Near To Here, an app that calls up Wikipedia entries for buildings, monuments, statues, or anything worth exploring in a location. Tanjeloff contracted a Russian company to develop the complex programming that fl ags nearby landmarks when you approach them using the iPhone’s builtin GPS to track a user’s location.

Tanjeloff says the app is unique in that it uses a vast library of little-known landmarks, including the largest ball of yarn in Darwin, Minnesota and historical markers on the Harvard campus that you would never fi nd just by strolling around. Of course, the app also includes the most well-known landmarks, but inspires travellers to seek out more obscure locales. Released at the end of 2009, Tanjeloff projects a total download count of about 15,000 at $0.99 each.

Tanjeloff has since created a company of one, De La Plata Enterprises, with plans to develop additional apps. So far, Near To Here has been ranked as a top 25 travel app and has garnered critical acclaim, especially with user reviews.

BUILD YOUR OWN COMPANY

Small business start-ups have shown that it is possible, even in a harsh economy, to build a company around smartphone apps and turn an idea into a legitimate enterprise. Both these companies started with little up-front funding and are now earning a viable income. One reason for the booming app industry is the transition from desktop and laptop computing to performing the same tasks with a handheld device.

“The phone has evolved to become the computer you carry with you all the time and is always connected,” says Michael Gartenberg, consumer analyst and vice-president of strategy and analysis at Interpret. “As a result, users’ expectations of what they can do with that device have increased and those expectations have been met with third-party applications. Like the PC, no one vendor can deliver the total experience users are looking for and that’s why it’s been so important for platform vendors to court developers.”

Gartenberg says the highly connected nature of a smartphone – which can use Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, and 3G access much more fl uidly than any laptop – means they are always “location aware” and connected with colleagues.

“Mobile browsing is very different from the desktop experience and combined with a connected applications model that’s also location aware, one can deliver a rich mobile experience without having to rely on the browser to do the heavy lifting,” says Gartenberg. “For example, you’re more likely to fi nd smartphone users connecting with a service like Twitter through an application not the website.”

There is also a chicken-and-egg scenario. According to consumer analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group, many users buy a smartphone not for what it can do today, but for what it will do in the future. If a company is able to attract those users initially, it may fi nd it can retain them as other apps are developed.

“A company that can establish a reputation for building good applications has an advantage connected to their brand,” says Enderle. “Once they trust that brand, buyers prefer them other similar application suppliers. Size also brings with it the ability to market the applications and to create synergy between them all of which helps make the result more fi nancially lucrative.”

For FitnessKeeper and De La Plata, their size is certainly an asset: they are not hard-wired to a complex enterprise-level business plan and can decide on a whim to create a new app or add new services to their existing apps. As long as smartphone users continue to demand new tools, inventive app creators will fi nd it is a market they can continue to tap.

5 BUSINESS-FRIENDLY APPS

Apps designed especially with the business user in mind

Navigon MobileNavigator
(iPhone)
The original iPhone had built-in mapping, but lacked a voice navigation system. This app has directional arrows, icons, and voice instructions that guide you to a location.

LogMeIn Ignition
(iPhone)
This paid app, which uses the free LogMeIn service, lets you access your PC remotely. Once connected, you can open Word, run PowerPoint, copy fi les and perform just about any PC task from your phone.

SugarSync
(BlackBerry)
Business users need two things: a phone that works and data that is safe. This tackles the latter by archiving contacts and fi les to a remote portal. You can configure what is archived and how often.

SyncExpress
(Windows Mobile)
This powerful app for Windows Mobile-enabled devices allows you to sync email and contacts between your PC and your smartphone. You can also sync your schedule for business meetings.

ExpenseTracker
(Palm Pre)
Business users on the go can use ExpenseTracker to keep tabs on lunch bills, travel costs, and gas and mileage right from their Palm Pre device. Very handy when it comes to the dreaded tax bill.