Happy Birthday ForeFlight Mobile!

It’s been exactly a year since ForeFlight Mobile 2.0 appeared in the iTunes App store and made the front page of TechCrunch and MacRumors – surprisingly, the hook was we were the most expensive app available for sale.  Not long after launch we bumped into the ForeFlight icon at a nearby Apple Retail Store and learned the display was in stores around the world.  The Houston Chronicle profiled ForeFlight as one of the early App Store successes.  Since July 11, 2008, ForeFlight Mobile has held a spot in the Top 25 Paid Weather  Apps category.  Pretty exciting stuff!

The early success inspired the launch of ForeFlight Checklist Pro, ForeFlight Checklist Lite, ForeFlight File, and recently AOPA Airports (in partnership with the AOPA).  Thousands of downloads later, we’re confident that we’ve achieved our original objective: build fast, elegant, fun, and usable Preflight Intelligence™ iPhone software for pilots.  ForeFlight Mobile provides access to critical information on-the-go, reduces the need to visit ten different websites to gather relevant information, and raises the bar for aviation software usability.

Our promise to our customers is that we will continue to provide great customer support; innovate, and push the envelope by taking advantage of advancements in Apple hardware and software; and through our new partnerships improve the quality, breadth, depth, and geographic coverage of the information in ForeFlight Mobile.

Here’s to year two <clink>!

Greatest Reward

One of the most rewarding aspects of the past year is the stream of positive App Store reviews, emails of praise and encouragement, and achieving an overall five star rating for ForeFlight Mobile. There is truly nothing more motivating than receiving a six paragraph email from a helicopter pilot describing how he uses ForeFlight when air lifting a sick patient off a hospital roof in San Antonio.

The team first came together around the idea of doing something innovative that we – and others – would enjoy using.  We were in it for the journey: the thrill of developing for a new platform, building great software, making customers happy, and riding to shore a wave of unprecedented enthusiasm for the ground-breaking iPhone technology. We believe that everything worth pursuing follows when you build the right product.  We are extremely proud of the apps we’ve shipped, and can’t wait to show you what we have planned for the future!

Becoming Routine

We are proud with how quickly ForeFlight Mobile has become such an important part of daily flight routine.  Last month alone, the average user spent 16 minutes per session (one use) and used ForeFlight at least twice per day (two “sessions” per day). On average, a ForeFlight user will spend 16 hours a month using the application.

In June alone, ForeFlight servers handled more than 4.0 million requests for information from our iPhone apps and delivered nearly 1.5 terabytes of airport database data via the in-app database download manager. These results make it clear to us that ForeFlight is playing an important and growing role in aviation, and we’re responding accordingly by strengthening relationships with important partners and investing in infrastructure.

Milestones

• VIP guests at Apple’s 2008 World Wide Developer Conference, sitting in front of Walt Mossberg and likely obstructing his view.
• July 10, 2008: First tweet on our Twitter account
• July 11, 2008: Launch of iTunes App Store and ForeFlight Mobile 2.0 (Codename ‘Aspen’)
• July 11, 2008: ForeFlight ‘most expensive app in app store‘ according to Tech Crunch
• July 12, 2008: ForeFlight powers Tron Guy.
• October 13, 2008: ForeFlight Checklist 1.0 released
• December 21, 2008: ForeFlight 2.1 released, with native storage of 27,000 airports.
• January 27, 2009: ForeFlight 2.2 released, allowing more pilot customization and email file notifications
• January 30, 2009: ForeFlight File 1.0 released
• April 23, 2009: ForeFlight 2.3 released with Favorites and on-board storage of procedures and diagrams
• May 17, 2009: Launch of AOPA Airports in partnership with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association
• June 29, 2009: Surpass 20,000 downloads of AOPA Airports
• June 30, 2009: ForeFlight servers handle more than 4.0 million requests in the month of June from customer iPhones and delivers 1.5 terabytes of airport database data
• July 1, 2009 Named “Product of the Year” in the Cellphone Weather category by Aviation Consumer
• July 11, 2009: ForeFlight celebrates one year in iTunes App Store, eats cake with ForeFlight icon icing.

Mobile Software Comes of Age, Friction and Freedom

After a year of being in the App Store and two years as iPhone users, we’ve come to believe this new mobile era – call it Mobile 2.0 to reuse an already overused metaphor – is evolving much like the PC and the Internet eras before it.  In those periods, new technology was introduced, innovative entrepreneurs wrote applications that met individual needs, reduced friction, created freedom and changed consumer expectations. Innovative companies thrived.

The evolution of the personal computer introduced a whole industry of software companies and artisan developers focused on building applications for the new devices. Software developers and companies thrived.  People came to expect that PC software could help them do just about anything and they didn’t need to share computing resources with others.  PCs created more freedom, less friction and more productivity.

A similar evolution occurred in the late 90s with the growth of the Internet: a whole industry of Internet focused software companies and artisan developers emerged, thrived, and became very successful building applications that people could access through a web browser.  Their applications reduced friction and created freedom. We now expect – and in many instances have come to prefer – software that runs in a web browser and is accessible from any computer at home, at work, or on the road.

The same thing is happening in the mobile software space.  We travel around and sleep within six feet of high-powered, highly capable mobile computers (iPhones, BlackBerries, etc.) and we are being taught “there’s an app for that“. One year ago there were no apps for monitoring patient information, apps for entertaining toddlers, managing the supply chain, or even apps for entertaining yourself.

Even pilots are being taught to expect that they can get just about any aviation related information from well-designed, purpose-built mobile apps.  We don’t see that trend abating any time soon. We push a lot of information to pilots now, and they are asking for more sources and tools every day.

Mobile apps are a complement to established aviation resources like NOAA’s Aviation Weather website, AirNav, FlightAware, AOPA Airport Directory Online, RunwayFinder, SkyVector, the FAA’s Graphic TFR resource, and many others. We don’t see foresee a decrease in traffic to those resources; rather, we see an increase in the total amount of time dedicated to to those sites and to apps like ForeFlight.  With more advanced hardware and data access in our pockets, information is available to us on the elevator, parked on the ramp, sitting in the dentist chair, and some customers report even in church (the latter is probably not advisable).

Mobile 2.0 apps are reducing friction and creating freedom just like PC and Internet apps have and are doing today.  In our opinion, companies aligned with this trend stand to benefit.

What’s Next for Aviation

There’s lots of innovation left to be done in the aviation software space, including the mobile space we are focused on.  Improvements to the FAA interfaces and systems that distribute pilot information are in desperate need of an overhaul.  Data formats are antiquated and the systems sometimes unreliable. Example: we recently started serving FAA NACO terminal procedures diagrams off our own servers because they have better uptime than NACO’s.  The FAA’s service that distributes NOTAMs over the web was down for 8 hours yesterday. Enough pilots use ForeFlight that any interruption of service is noticed immediately.

Flight plan filing and briefings are still largely done through antiquated terminal-style interfaces.  Airport information updates take weeks to find their way in to FAA data feeds.  New technologies – like four-dimensional weather forecasting and the ability to computationally determine cloud layers along a route of flight – are on the cusp, can improve safety, and need to get out there.

The flight planning computers at the local FBO aren’t likely to die any time soon, but they will have a hard time keeping up as mobile devices and mobile software evolve to do a better job presenting relevant information, reducing friction, and improving freedom.  We’re excited to be pushing the envelope here.

Thank You

Thanks to all of our customers, partners and valiant beta testers that have worked with us over the past year.  We’re looking forward to another great year.  Special thanks to:

• Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (Chris O., Jennifer P., Tom H.)
• Colin Summers
• Doug Moreland of ReadyProcs
• DUATS
• Erik Hake and Ron Klutts
• Frank Robinson
• Jason Miller (the other Jason Miller)
• The A Pilot’s Story Team
• Rob Honeycutt
• Rod Rakic and MyTransponder.com
• Universal Aviation and Weather
• The Weather Underground
• Apple Developer Relations
• ForeFlight spouses!

Prior to updating all of our apps to support iPhone OS 3.0, we studied prior iPhone and iPod touch update adoption rates.  Conclusion:  be ready, customers upgrade fast.  After one week in the wild, here’s what’s shakin’ (it turns out that updating was wise):

iPhone OS 3.0 Adoption

AdMob reported today that 44% of web requests in their network are now coming from the new OS.  Conclusion: ForeFlight customers are early adopters on the bleeding edge!

Team ForeFlight picked up an iPhone 3GS this morning at the local AT&T Store.  We had pre-ordered the day of the announcement, so we just walked right in during AT&T’s “special” hours from 7:00am-9:00am.

Our first impression?  The iPhone 3GS is fast.  Very fast.  It’s noticeably speedier when launching apps and surfing the web.  The new compass is integrated with Google Maps and points you in the right direction.

Of course we took it for a spin with all of the ForeFlight iPhone aviation apps:  ForeFlight Mobile, Checklist Pro, ForeFlight File, and AOPA Airports.   All of the apps launch faster, and tapping between tabs is a little zippier.  We work hard to make our apps run quickly, even on the older phones, so most of the speed changes are hard to measure with a stopwatch.  (Think subsecond, not second.)

However, in ForeFlight Mobile, we install A/FD data and airport thumbnail diagrams to the phone so that pilots can use the app offline.  This data takes a minute to download, and then a minute or two to install.  We made the code as fast as possible, but the slower chips on the older iPhones and iPod touch models still take a while to install everything.  Since pilots only need to do this once a month, it isn’t a big hassle – but we always love faster!

Here’s a comparison chart of installing the airport database and diagrams on a first generation iPhone (Edge), a first generation iPod touch, and the new iPhone 3GS.  Download times are not included in these numbers; it’s only the installation of data (extracting and writing to disk).

As you can see, the iPhone 3GS is much speedier than earlier models.  For pilots who are buying their first iPhone, we strongly recommend getting the iPhone 3GS instead of the earlier iPhone 3G model.  And if you’re already a ForeFlight user and have the itch to upgrade, we can’t blame you!

Tomorrow is “3-Day”!  The third generation of Apple’s iPhone OS operation system – iPhone OS 3.0 – hits Apple’s software update servers tomorrow.

Are you curious to know how quickly iPhone owners upgrade?  Charts put out by AdMob indicate that about 30% of iPhone owners will upgrade within the first week of a new iPhone OS release, and a steady stream of iPhone owners upgrade over the following weeks.  That means a lot of ForeFlight customers (and we are grateful there are many of you!) will be sporting the new iPhone OS by this weekend.

We’re happy to announce that we submitted updates for all of our apps in advance of the launch.  Apple is quite busy working through the backlog of apps awaiting approval, but we are confident you will at least see ForeFlight Mobile 2.3.2 shortly.

Here’s a quick rundown of the updates:

• ForeFlight Mobile 2.3.2 – includes support for iPhone OS 3.0, bug fixes to improve certain network related issues when operating over the AT&T EDGE network, and other little tweaks here and there.
• ForeFlight Checklist 2.1.0 – support for iPhone OS 3.0.
• ForeFlight File 1.1 – support for iPhone OS 3.0.
• AOPA Airports 1.0.1 – support for iPhone OS 3.0, a “Download All” button in the download manager, a bug fix to improve iTunes sync times, and bug fixes to improve certain network related issues when operation over the AT&T EDGE network.

So, are you getting a new iPhone 3GS?  Send in your first impressions!  We’d love to hear.

A new data cycle begins in 2 days and updated ForeFlight databases are available for you to download. ForeFlight Mobile and AOPA Airports users can download these updates using the Download Manager, accessible from the “Downloads” section of the application.  If you don’t see that section, press the “More” button on the bottom of the application to find it!

And, as always, it’s OK to download them early!  Your application will wait to use the new data until it becomes effective.

It’s heating up here in Texas, as is the pace of app and feature updates.  ForeFlight Mobile 2.3.1 is now available in iTunes App Store.  Please see our helpful info page on how to update.

This is a minor update that improves download management for users on slower networks.  Also included is a new “Download All” feature that lets you download all databases in one shot.

Other changes in this release:

• Favorites bug fix to avoid re-ordering problem
• Data downloads will no longer be backed up by iTunes
• Blue arrow button now works when shown on contact info view

We’re thrilled to announce that a shiny new iPhone app – ‘AOPA Airports, Powered by ForeFlight‘ – is now available for download from iTunes App Store! The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) and ForeFlight partnered to bring this must have know-before-you-go airport information to the iPhone and iPod touch.  The application is a free download and is usable at no charge to current  AOPA members. ForeFlight Mobile customers also get access to this important information resource via a free update coming soon.

If you are not familiar with the AOPA, read Thomas Horne’s article about the how the AOPA has helped shape aviation.  If you are not familiar with ‘General Aviation‘ (GA),  visit http://gaservesamerica.com to learn about our rare freedom, the importance to our economy, and how all of us benefit.  

Launching the AOPA Airports application is a great way for the ForeFlight Team to help celebrate AOPA’s 70th birthday and pledge our support for its mission. The challenges to GA are constant and often ill-conceived. A strong voice that speaks on behalf of GA and pilots is essential in protecting this rare freedom.

If you aren’t a member, join.  If your membership has lapsed, renew.  If you aren’t involved, act.  If you’ve thought about learning to fly, go! 

Happy 70th birthday, AOPA!  

Members, go get the app and send feedback!

AOPA, ForeFlight Partner to Offer AOPA Airport Directory
On iPhone™, iPod touch Platforms

Frederick, MD – Effective immediately, AOPA members who use an Apple^® iPhone or
iPod^® touch can have direct access to AOPA’s Airport Directory on their devices. The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has partnered with ForeFlight, a leader in aviation applications for the iPhone and the iPod touch, to offer the complete directory as a download that is free to AOPA members. The application, called AOPA Airports, is available for download today from the iTunes App Store.

“The iPhone and iPod touch are tremendous platforms with exciting capabilities that make them ideal for aviation related applications,” said Chris O’Callaghan, AOPA’s vice president of ePublishing. “And there is no one who exploits those capabilities better than ForeFlight.”

“ForeFlight was founded by pilots, for pilots, and we believe strongly in our products – we use them extensively when we fly,” said ForeFlight co-founder Jason Miller. “We’re proud to have earned AOPA’s trust, and to have been selected as the exclusive iPhone and iPod touch application provider for AOPA’s Airport Directory.”

As with the print edition of AOPA’s Airport Directory, data in the ForeFlight electronic version cover airport info, FBOs, airport services, and more.  Features include a download manager for keeping the data up-to-date every 56 days, thousands of airport diagrams, features for saving favorite airports and recently viewed airports, and finding nearby airports.

The AOPA Airports application can be downloaded on its own from the iTunes App Store, but  the directory will also be made available within ForeFlight’s flagship iPhone application, ForeFlight Mobile, the premier flight-planning software for the iPhone and the iPod touch. Both applications take full advantage of the iPhone’s intuitive Multi-Touch™ user interface.

“We are doing this to support AOPA’s mission,” said Miller, “and to leverage the unequalled power of the iPhone/iPod touch platform for the benefit of the members.”

“It’s also a great way for pilots to go green by reducing the amount of paper they use,” concluded O’Callaghan. “It brings one of AOPA’s oldest and most popular member benefits into the future.”

ForeFlight’s mobile aviation software, designed and built specifically for iPhone and iPod touch, delivers Preflight Intelligence™ and Inflight Intelligence™ to thousands of pilots around the world. ForeFlight’s other aviation products include ForeFlight Checklist Pro, ForeFlight File, and ForeFlight Desktop.

With more than 415,000 members, representing 70% of all pilots in the United States, AOPA is the largest, most influential aviation association in the world. AOPA has achieved its prominent position through effective advocacy, enlightened leadership, technical competence, efficient partnerships, and hard work. Providing member services that range from representation at the federal, state, and local levels to legal services, advice, and other assistance, AOPA has built a service organization that far exceeds any other in the aviation community.

More information about the AOPA Airports application, including screenshots and demonstration videos, is available at http://www.aopa.org/iPhone.  More information about ForeFlight and their other applications is available on their website at http://www.foreflight.com.

ForeFlight 2.3, the leading iPhone aviation app, is now available for download from iTunes App Store!  Like all 2.x updates, ForeFlight 2.3 is a free upgrade for existing users.  Click here for instructions on how to download and install the new version.

Check out all the new features in ForeFlight 2.3:

• Favorites! Add, remove, and re-order your favorite airports and weather reporting stations
• Over 3,000 new proprietary airport thumbnail diagrams!
• ForeFlight “Onboard”: terminal procedures and airport diagrams stored locally with color indicators that display which terminal procedures are stored on device.  Just view a procedure to store it!
• Graphical TFRs and enhanced NOTAM details.
• Zooming satellite weather imagery.
• Full screen weather imagery with rotation support and auto-hide menu bars, just like the Photo app (it’s awesome)!
• Instrument procedure viewer now supports rotation for landscape viewing.
• When new downloads are available, the number available appears on the ForeFlight icon.
• A new tab for the download manager, making it easier to get to.
• Customizable tab bar that you can configure to your liking.
• Super sexy flight plan filing email confirmations.
• New “VFR (DC SFRA)” flight plan filing option for the Washington, D.C. airspace.
• ARTCC and flight service information
• New ‘confirm-to-dial’ preference that prevents you from accidentally calling an ATIS or other phone number when enabled.

Enjoy!

-the ForeFlight Team

Tonight we uploaded ForeFlight 2.3 to iTunes and it is now pending Apple’s approval!  2.3 is a huge release – enormous, even – and we’re excited it’s on the way to you.  Here’s what’s new:

• Favorites! Yup, it’s been a long time coming.  You can now add and remove airports from your favorites list, reorder them and swipe to delete.
• Onboard terminal procedures! Many of you have been asking for this, and your wait is over.  You no longer need a network connection to view terminal procedures, as they are saved automagically on device.  Just view a procedure to store it.  Our “Procedure Onboard” indicators will highlight which procedures are stored on disk and which ones need downloading.
• Over 3,000 new, proprietary airport thumbnail diagrams. No other app comes close to the number of iPhone optimized domestic and international airport diagrams.  Phew, those took a while!
• High resolution, zooming satellite imagery centered on any airport you view with animation to come.
• Full screen weather imagery with rotation support and auto-hide controls, just like the iPhone Photo app.
• Terminal procedures support rotation: view them in landscape or portrait mode.
• Graphical TFRs and enhanced NOTAM details
• Update “badges”: when new downloads are ready, the number of downloads available appears on the ForeFlight icon reminding you to get the latest and greatest data.
• A new tab for the download manager, making it easier to get to.
• Customizable tab bar that you can configure to your liking.
• Super sexy flight plan filing email confirmations
• New “VFR (DC SFRA)” flight plan filing option for the Washington, D.C. airspace.
• ARTCC and flight service information for every airport.
• New “Confirm to Dial” application setting that prevents you from accidentally calling an ATIS or other phone number when enabled.

ForeFlight Mobile 2.3 will be available in the App Store later this month.  In the meantime, here are some screenshots to tide you over.  Enjoy!

Today we’re proud to announce ForeFlight Checklist Lite v2.0, our first free iPhone app! We know it’s hard to buy apps without trying them first, so this lets you experience how easy it is to walk through a checklist on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Checklist Lite lets you create checklists from two example templates, edit them on your iPhone, and test out our popular features like night-mode and flip-to-view emergency procedures.

We want every pilot to take it for a spin!

See the chart to see what features are available in Checklist Lite versus Checklist Pro:

Feature	Checklist Lite	Checklist Pro
Create multiple checklists
Tap to check, tap to skip, and status
Flip-to-view emergency procedures
Day mode and night mode
Edit checklists on iPhone or iPod Touch
Edit checklists on the web and sync to your iPhone or iPod Touch
Over two dozen templates for popular aircraft types, derived from official P.O.H. checklists: Cessna, Cirrus, Diamond, Mooney, Piper, and more
Share checklists with a friend and download shared checklists
Backup your checklists to our servers

Download Checklist Lite for free and take it for a spin around the pattern!

If you are ready for time saving features like more templates, web editing, online backup, and sharing, then Checklist Pro is for you.