By Allan Maurer
Laney Dale, CEO, appubator
CHAPEL HILL, NC – Have an idea for a mobile application many people or businesses might find useful? A new firm called appubator inc. wants to develop mobile apps from ideas submitted by the general public and it will share 30 percent of the revenue from those it develops. And when you are ready to submit that brilliant idea—there’s an app for that.
We spoke to appubator founders Laney Dale, CEO, and Chip Royce about what they plan to do.
“People keep saying they wish there were an app for this or that,” Royce told us. “But they don’t necessarily have the business or technical knowledge to develop it.”
Dale, who has been developing mobile apps for several years, said, “I run into people every day who have great ideas for new mobile apps.
“Through our company, we will help people make their apps a reality and provide a compelling income opportunity through the booming mobile application market.”
Idea creators get 30 percent
The appubator business model combines the ideas of mobile phone users with appubator’s capital and development resources to bring new mobile applications to market on the major Smartphone platforms (iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile).
Once launched, the submitter receives a 30 percent share of revenues received from the sale of the application.
Short development time
Dale says an average app takes only about two weeks to develop, although it takes a minimum of 30 days to get it into the proliferating stores that market and sell mobile apps. The existence of established sales channels for the mobile apps is one reason the founders think the appubator model can work.
Chip Royce, co-founder
“If we can develop a pipeline of products, distribution will be quite solid,” said Royce.
A key part of the appubator process is the company’s secure website and mobile submission applications.
The mobile apps, soon to be available through iTunes (supporting iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad) and the Android Market (Android OS mobile Smartphones) allow users to send the company their submissions whenever an idea strikes.
Some apps already being developed
The company sees a lucrative opportunity.
British research and consulting firm WirelessExpertise recently published a report which suggests that the number of global Smartphone users is expected to reach 1.6 billion by 2013. The researchers also predict that the mobile applications market, currently estimated at $4B for 2009, could grow as large as $166 billion by 2013.
The company has already received about 20 idea submissions and hopes to have its first products on the market in the first quarter this year. “We think our sweet spot will be around consumer information and daily assistant sorts of things,” Royce said, but emphasized they are open to all sorts of ideas and will access them for their business potential.
Both founders have considerable business experience. They have launched multi-million dollar software apps for their own businesses and customers, including mobile apps for e-commece, entertainment and information services.
Online: www.appubator.com
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Tags: app development, appubator, mobile apps, smartphones
