BabyBinks

Software Patents: One Developer's Perspective

2011-05-17T14:29:00.194-05:00

Will the now ubiquitous "Pull-to-Refresh"
mechanism patented by indie developer
Loren Brichter face similar outrage?

Many app developers woke up to find some unpleasant mail waiting for them on Monday morning. It appears that Lodsys, a patent holding company, has contacted several independent iOS developers about claims of patent infringement regarding use of the iOS "in app purchase" method. They claim that use of this technology violates U.S. Patent 7,222,078, which they had purchased from inventor Daniel Abelow.

I am not one of the developers who has been contacted by Lodsys, so I can not comment on any of the specifics relating to those individuals. However, Lodsys, in an effort to clarify their position and quell a public relations storm, created a blog. You can read their blog here.

Intellectual Property Protection

Patents relating to software methodologies are difficult for many people to grasp. Unlike a more physical, tangible product, software is an abstract creation that develops in someones mind, is written in plain text characters, but then is transformed into something useful (or in the case of may iOS applications, something beautiful). For many people, if they can't hold something, they have trouble completely understanding it. Or the complexity behind a simple "Click to Purchase" button seems absurd.

Personally, I am the inventor of software methodologies that benefit from intellectual property protection. They are in a different field, completely unrelated to mobile technology. In this field, protection of ideas is essential to the longevity and sustainability of the companies. However, it should be apparent that protection of ideas is essential to the longevity and sustainability of any company.

The most obvious case of this is Apple. For the most part, computing hardware is a commodity. One might be designed and packaged by Jon Ive, but when you tear them down, they have basically the same components. What is the difference between the iPhone and Android? Software Patents. Apple's superior iOS operating system (and the software patents that protect it) is the reason that consumers prefer the iPhone and Apple has the revenue and resources to continue to innovate.

Pull to Refresh Angst in the Developer Community

The immediate ripple through the developer community was one of outrage...to say the least. It seemed unfathomable that a patent holding company would go after indie developers, when the biggest fish in the world, Apple, was on the hook. In Lodsys' blog, one of the most interesting claims they make is that Apple licenses this patent for their use; although it is not clear in what capacity (i.e. for their software or for the iOS SDK).

As a developer, I would have thought that a feature included in the official SDK would have been adequately licensed to cover use by developers. I would have thought that this was one of the expenses covered by the 70/30 split in app sales revenues with Apple. Still, most of the developer outrage was not as well placed, but instead focused on vilifying Lodsys and proclamations that software patents are evil.

This situation made me remember a similar indie developer outrage...but from the other point of view. In the fall of 2010, Facebook was chastised by indie developers for "borrowing" the innovative "Pull to Refresh" mechanism that was pioneered by Loren Brichter in the Tweetie iPhone app by AteBits Facebook later apologized for what they called an "oversight" and fixed the code attribution. When Tweetie was acquired by Twitter, it become known that Brichter had filed a patent for the "Pull to Refresh" mechanism.

If this patent is awarded, will there be similar outrage in the indie developer community when AteBits (one of their own) seeks licensing fees for a feature that has become ubiquitous in many iOS apps?

In Closing

As an active developer, inventor and scientist, I have a strong belief in the protection of intellectual property...especially software. Yes, there are different levels of patent enforcement (and Lodsys may be on the bottom rung), but the entire system can not be disparaged because of this.

To many indie developers software patents may look evil, but it serves their interests just as well, if not better, as those of large corporations. It is what prevents a large studio stealing all of your ideas and reproducing your games. It is what allows you to invest time and resources, knowing that you can benefit from your innovation and diligence. It is what will allow indie developer Loren Brichter to knock on the door at Facebook and tell Mark Zuckerberg, "We need to talk.".

Happy Orthodox Mother's Day

2011-05-14T23:54:00.033-05:00

I wonder if someone will will
play peek-a-boo with me?

The inability of Christians to decide between the Julian and Gregorian calendars means many Orthodox children are unwrapping their Christmas presents in January. While the week late observation of holidays is just one of the many discrepancies in Orthodox practices, it provides a perfect rationalization in our family to celebrate important events on a later date. For example, when I happened to be traveling for work on my birthday last year, we just celebrated my Orthodox birthday a week later.

Last Sunday, I had to invoke our Orthodox observation policy since we were returning home from an out-of-town wedding on Mother's Day. Since spending all day in airports and on airplanes seemed like more of a punishment than celebration, we officially postponed it until today.

Real Mother's Day

God knows how a popsicle sculpture (my 5 year-old's present), a complete line of macaroni jewelry (my 3 year-old's present) and a life-size tracing of my 2-year old (his present) would have held up in a suitcase, but that morning I regretted not bringing the presents. We exchanged cards, but it all felt a little unofficial without homemade presents (also because it was happening in a hotel room). Thankfully, the rush to pack the suitcases and wrangle all the kids to the airport overshadowed everything else.

In addition to early boarding with children, another compelling
reason to fly Southwest Airlines...free drinks on Mother's Day.

Once we boarded the plane, the kids all agreed that mommy should get the window seat as a "Mother's Day" present. This was actually quite a selfless gesture, as positioning next to the window seat ignited a 2-hour battle on the flight down. Not that we were keeping score, but the 3-year old won...she just wanted it more.

Finally, once the novelty of climbing over the top of seat wore off (about an hour), everyone gave mommy the greatest gift of all...they fell asleep...giving Mommy something she hadn't had in a very long time...4 hours to herself. To top it off, Southwest Airlines gave her the second greatest gift of all...a complimentary Bloody Mary to enjoy in solace.

Orthodox Mother's Day

With 3 kids, getting an hour to yourself (even
if it is to cut the lawn) is the greatest gift of all.

Our family officially celebrated Mother's Day this morning and all the homemade gifts from the children were cherished dearly. We made our traditional trip to the nursery and bought flowers for the yard. Despite it being 50 degrees in May, we planted them all.

I surprised Margret with something that she has been asking for for years...a new lawnmower. While that may seem a little unsentimental, it's what she really wanted. Then, as a family, we gave her one last present...an hour to cut the lawn...or an hour to herself...depending how you look at it.

Happy Orthodox Mother's Day!

Dick and Jane and Vampires (and App Discovery Week)

2011-04-29T09:59:00.013-05:00

Promo code giveaways are now accessible directly
within the Moms with Apps app on Page 2.

As "App Discovery Week" came to a close last week, it capped off the largest app promo code giveaway of its kind since the iPhone revolutionized mobile computing. When it was all said and done, 3972 applications were given away with a value just shy of $10,000. A special thanks goes out to all the developers who donated promo codes for their apps.

By design, the promotion was meant to encourage app discovery by randomly giving away anonymous apps. A user wouldn't know what app they were getting until it finished downloading. This approach was met with very mixed responses. For those people who received an app they liked, they loved the idea. Those people who received an app they didn't like thought it was terrible idea.

Our use of Push Notifications to begin each giveaway was also met with mixed reviews. The majority of users treated it like a game, waiting anxiously by their iPhones, ready to click. However, more than a few people felt the Push Notifications were intrusive (and annoying) and went so far as to let me know they were removing the Moms with Apps app¹.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

The feedback we received from everyone, both the good, the bad and the ugly, was very helpful and in the future promo code giveaways will be conducted differently. The most important difference will be that giveaways are now built directly into the app. On Page 2 of the Moms with Apps app, there is a new category called "Promo Codes". When promo codes are available, they will be listed here. Be sure to follow Moms with Apps and BabyBinks on Twitter and Facebook to be the first to know when promo codes are available.

In the future, we will also be more reserved about sending Push Notifications for promotions. In general, we send out a notification every Friday to remind everyone about special App Friday promotions run by the Moms with Apps blog. In addition, we will send out notifications on other special deals or events that we believe will be of interest to the majority of our users. For example, a notification was sent out when entire catalog of "Everyday Mathematics" applications were set to Free to kick off the NCTM conference.

On Discovery

Despite all of our efforts, we acknowledge that the act of "discovery" can not be artificially created. It can be encouraged, as we did through this promotion, but there is no substitute for those serendipitous circumstances that introduce you to something you didn't know existed (but always needed).

These are the kind of events that took place for me this past weekend. While playing hide-and-go-seek at our public library with my 2-year-old, I happened to tuck behind a bookshelf and found myself face-to-face with "Dick and Jane and Vampires". Yes, it's a real book. Yes, it's as great as it sounds. And now our family has a new favorite book.

In that same spirit, I hope that iPhone and iPad owners will take time to click past the first page of iTunes and look past the Top app lists. There are a lot great educational apps just waiting to be discovered. I don't know if you'll find something as great as "Dick and Jane and Vampires and Calculus", but you will definitely find some fantastic apps that will soon be your families' new favorite.

^{1. For instructions on how to change how your device receives notifications from any app, please see this tutorial.}

Catholics Come Home: A Cautionary Tale

2011-04-18T22:43:00.001-05:00

Forgive me for I know not what I do.
And can I have a pony?

The Catholic Church has spent considerable marketing effort to lure lapsed Catholics back to church with its "Catholics Come Home" campaign. In it, they make an appeal to those who have been away to come back and rediscover how the Church can enrich their lives. Our family goes to church enough not to feel that this is message is directed at us per se, but we do have the occasional "attendance dry spells" that seem to happen when life gets in the way of securing our position in the after-life.

Giving Up Not Going To Church

In additional to the traditional "giving up soda" offering during the Lenten season, we decided to give up not going to mass. It started out good and we made it to Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday is a great way to break back into the Church going mode because its not a full mass. Plus the "dirt" on everyone's heads is enough to distract the kids enough to keep them in the pews for 45 minutes.

Depending on how Catholic you are, sometimes you can convince yourself that going to Ash Wednesday mass counts as Church for the week (since technically it is not a holy day of obligation). We are just unholy enough to subscribe to this justification so we missed the next Sunday. The following Sunday we had an out of town birthday party, which according to my Catholic school graduate wife, somehow trumps Church. I think it has something to do with serving your fellow man, but either way, no one complained.

If You're Coming Home, Check the Liturgical Calendar

The combined guilt of years of Catholic school had finally burdened us enough that we resolved to go to mass this past Sunday. Per usual, we arrived about 5 minutes late to mass. Normally, this is actually a good thing, as we can sneak in the back and then are properly positioned to leave right after communion. This is an expert Catholic move that can only be perfected by years of practice. The trick is to wear your coat to communion. You can't go back in the pew to get it...you'll get trapped. That's a classic mistake.

As we walked into Church the unusually large crowd gave me pause. When I looked down, I realized that we were in big trouble. It was Palm Sunday!

Growing up, Palm Sunday was the one chance a year to practice your basket weaving skills without ridicule. Since the mass usually runs twice as long due to the reading of the Passion, you have more than enough time to convert a handful of palms into all kinds of handy things. I usually make bracelets. My kids lack the dexterity (and patience) for the fine are of weaving, so when they see the palms they see one thing....church swords.

At Least We Got Great Seats

It was a packed house, which usually means standing in the back, however, my 5-year old was eager to point out the empty front row seats. Before I could say a word, she took off down the aisle, interrupting the homily, as we apologized and crept behind her.

Her enthusiasm in the front row was not based on religious fervor, it was driven by her disturbing new interest in pantomime. She likes to mirror all the movements the priest makes during mass. At certain times it can be highly inappropriate, but most of the time it's very cute.

The Danger of Being Reverent

Trying to atone for our tardiness, the disruption, and my daughter's pantomime of the Passion of the Christ, I bowed my head to offer up heartfelt prayers. After completing a few Hail Mary's and several pleas for more patience as a father, I had a good feeling that someone was watching over me.

While bowing your head is a universal sign of reverence, it leaves your parenting quite compromised. When I looked up, I realized that the feeling that someone was watching over me was not as spiritual as I has hoped. Before me stook the priest pointing his finger at floor. Slightly confused I looked at my daughter, who, not breaking character, was also pointing in the same direction. Following their fingers, I finally saw what he was getting at. My 2-year-old son drawing on the floor. He had spent the length of my prayer channeling an inverse Michelangelo.

I would later learn my wife had put the Sharpie in her purse to keep it away from him, but she had take our middle-child to the bathroom, leaving the Sharpie unguarded. So I spent the next 30 minutes trying to nonchalantly remove permanent maker from a marble floor using nothing but baby wipes and my foot.

Forgive Thy Neighbor

Thankfully, part of being Catholic is that strong sense of forgiveness that you are compelled to show your neighbors. The priest was very gracious about the incident and assured me that both he and God would forgive me. Although, he said he could not speak for our church's historical curator.

So, as many lapsed Catholics are sneaking into Church for their bi-annual (Christmas and Easter) obligations, I offer a few warnings on the dangers of being too late, sitting too close, and being too reverent. And for God's sake, never leave the house with a Sharpie!

Happy Easter.

Moms with Apps Presents "App Discovery Week"

2011-04-11T02:37:00.004-05:00

All week long, users of the Moms with
Apps app will receive push notifications
directing them to promo codes for
educational and family friendly apps.

As larger publishers and recognizable brands are beginning to take the App Store more seriously, it will undoubtedly become even more difficult for small, independent app developers to get noticed and attract customers. Most independent developers work on shoe string budgets, are self-financed by personal savings, and are fueled sheer determination. This is especially true of the educational app market, as it represents a mere fraction of the Game market, and holds even less possibility for financial success (even with a hit).

The "gold rush" days of the App Store are long gone, and even with little prospect of breaking even, the indie developers tirelessly work to fill the App Store with high-quality titles that rival those of the largest, most established studios. While these developers can easily compete on app creativity and technical execution, it will become increasingly challenging to compete against their marketing resources.

We've Got Spirit, How About You?

One thing that the indie developers do have is community. While big studios look at their contemporaries as competitors, indie developers have camaraderie among themselves. This cooperative spirit is what drove the formation of Moms with Apps.

Formed by a few mom developers who met while promoting their apps on Twitter, it now includes over 300 developers (including dads) focused on educational and family-friendly apps. Together, these developers are banding together sharing ideas and strategies, trying to claim a stake of the educational app marketplace before there isn't any room left.

Feeding Word of Mouth

One of the missions of Moms with Apps is to help promote independent children's and family-friendly app developers. While our promotion methods can be considered "grass roots" campaigns, they are actually perfectly suited to the way that people discover new apps....word of mouth. With this in mind, Moms with Apps is proud to introduce App Discovery Week.

This week, Moms with Apps will be giving away 500 promo codes per day (Monday-Friday) through the Moms with Apps app. Collectively, the giveaway is worth over $4000. Each day, several times a day, users of the Moms with Apps app will receive a push notification that will direct them to a special page in the app. On this page, they will find promo codes donated by Moms with Apps members. Users can simply tap the "Redeem" button to instantly redeem the promo code on their iOS device.

Putting the Discovery in App Discovery Week

As you can see, there is no information about what app you are downloading. This is the discovery part. While recommendations are the number one way that people decide to purchase apps, they also bias customers to the download the same apps. People are less likely to buy apps that they've never heard of...even if it is only $0.99.

So this week, download a few new apps courtesy of Moms with Apps and maybe you'll discover a new app that will become one of you children's favorites. If you do find one you like, please make an effort to tell a friend or write a review in the App Store.

Don't Tell Your Friends About This

The promo code giveaways are on a first come, first download basis, so users should be ready to move quickly when they receive the push notification. However, if you want a little heads up, we will be sending out updates via Twitter and Facebook to let you know when we're about to send the notification. Simply become a fan of BabyBinks on Facebook and follow @babybinks on Twitter.

Don't forget: You can only redeem the promo codes through the Moms with Apps app, which is available as a Free download in the App Store.

Screen Time...Your Kids Will Hate It

2011-04-01T17:05:00.000-05:00

Introducing the latest app from BabyBinks...Screen Time.

Screen Time is a simple way to enforce time limits on an iPhone, iPad of iPod Touch device. You simply set a time and press start. After the time expires, a series of alert notifications will display over-and-over-and-over again. The only way to stop them is to go back to the Screen Time app and enter the correct passcode.

After frustrating your child and rendering the iPhone useless to them, they'll eventually return the it to you. Now when you say "only 5 minutes of Angry Birds", you can mean it.

Like our other apps, this one was born out of necessity. Trying to convince your 3-year, who can not tell time, that her 5 minutes are up can only end up in everyone crying. Especially daddy.

Because you can't put a price on making sure you get your iPhone back from your kids...Screen Time is available as a free download in the App Store.

It Wasn't An Honor Just To Be Nominated

2011-03-28T22:33:00.002-05:00

Getting noticed is the hardest part of app development. Developing an app is straightforward (granted you have the idea). Managing provisioning profiles and submitting it to the App Store can be a painful experience, but nothing that a few hours of Googling will not get you through. Setting the price can be a fantastic internal struggle, but one that you will be wrestling with for months. Bring your app to market was the easy part...marketing it is the part that will make-or-break your business.

Getting your app noticed by Apple is a great way to begin the release of a new app. Out of the 5 apps released by BabyBinks over the past 2 years, 3 have been featured as New & Noteworthy. Based on the comparisons to 2 apps that were "overlooked", spending a week in the top row of the App Store makes a tremendous differnce in the life-cycle of your app. As an example, Elephonics (not featured) and Zombies Vs. Literacy (featured) are simply different themed versions of the same app, the difference between being featured translates into a 100 fold difference in downloads (to date).

And the Award Goes To

Being 'New & Noteworthy' is a great start, but it will not last very long. To sustain interest in you app, you have to do a lot of marketing (and this means more than just posting it on Facebook and tweeting about it on Twitter). There are many channels to market apps, and, despite what you may have been told, all of them are the same as marketing any product or service.

One channel that developers often overlook is awards. In the app market, winning awards is very social and a great marketing campaign (and a lot of friends) can vote your app into a nomination, or even the award winning spot.

And speaking of awards, I recently received an email for the Google Alert I set for Zombies Vs. Literacy. I clicked on the link and was directed to the Ericsson Labs blog for a post titled Vote on the Best Literacy Application. My excitment grew when I saw the full context for the reference:

Today is the World Read Aloud Day. Celebrate the Power of Words and Stories and Take Action for Global Literacy.

Let’s read aloud for someone. Read at home, at work, in a public space, on the train or anywhere. Read a book, a magazine or let the book be read by a device. Many applications exist that support reading text aloud.

We, at Ericsson Labs, support this World Read Aloud Day initiative and want to take action to show the world that the ability to read and write belongs to all people.

Today you can vote for the best literacy application. We have gathered 10 proposals we have received in a list below. Take a look at them and vote for the one you think is the best. They are web sites, web applications, Android applications and iPhone/ iPad applications.

Time to Dust Off My Awards Shelf

Move over Elementary School "Perfect Attendance" trophy. It's time for some real hardware. First, this is Ericsson Labs...as in Sony-Ericsson. Except for their recent attempt to create a Walkman, iPod "killer", Sony-Ericsson is one of the most successful companies in the world. Second, my app is on the same list as the Kindle app (Amazon) and The Cat in the Hat (Oceanhouse Media). That is pretty good company. Third, they have "gathered proposals". Someone actually like my app enough to submit a propsal for it to be considered for this award.

How do you know that I did not just submit a proposal for my app and then fein this fake humility? Look closely you can see for yourself:

Instead of linking Zombies Vs. Literacy to the App Store, the link is actually for an app pirating site. Clicking on the link takes you to a page where you can download the hacked .ipa file that you can download to your iPhone.

But I Just Dusted

As much as I appreciate the recognition for our app, I have to say this is one award I will not be touting too much. I realize its just an Ericsson Lab's blog, but I would have expected slightly more attention to detail from a global, billion dollar company. Especially one who is struggling to mount a response to the iPhone and will want to lure developers to its plaform.

Of course it does not really matter, as nothing could possibly trump my back-to-back-to-back "Best Dad of the Year" awards received each Father's Day...and, at least, I have the t-shirt, tie,and coffee mug to prove it.

Moms With Apps: Lessons From Our Educational App Store

2011-03-22T13:55:00.032-05:00

The Moms with Apps app is an independent catalog of educational and family friendly apps in Apple's App Store for iOS devices. It is the collaborative effort of the Moms with Apps (MWA) developer group to improve the search and discoverability of educational apps.

This feat is accomplished by curating and categorizing over 1000 apps from over 300 of the App Store's most applauded educational app developers. While the App Store bundles all educational apps into a single category, the MWA app provides additional categories such as Art, Creative Play, Early Learning, Foreign Language, Math, Reading, Science, Special Needs, etc. Within these categories app can be further searched by recommended age.

Phew, Apple Likes It

The entire concept of redefining and improving the education category of Apple's App Store was a questionable undertaking in its own right. As a group of developers who are all basing their livelihood off of the App Store, there is overwhelming pressure to always stay positive about Apple and its offerings. However, the notable rise in the use of iPhone and iPads for educational purposes, seemed to motivate our cooperative to try and make the Educational App Store an easier place to navigate. It was entirely plausible that Apple would take take offense by the underlying, yet unspoken message: The Educational App Store can be better.

Our trepidations were quickly assuaged, as the release of the MWA App was immediately recognized as the #1 app in the educational New & Noteworthy chart in 8 regional App Stores. The app was sprinkled across the top Free downloads charts around the globe and, on some days, we were consistently seeing a few downloads a minute.

Being a resident of Canada's loud neighbor to the South and having little insight into their educational system, I do not fully understand the reasons but the Canadians have really embraced Moms with Apps. We were fortunate enough to enjoy a week on the front page of their App Store as a featured app with our own custom artwork. That's us in green...next to the Oscars!

Phew, Parents Get It

App developers who are also parents have a complex and distorted way of looking at the App Store, compared to the typical iPhone toting parent. Once you've seen the behind the scenes, inner workings (as a developer), the magic of the worlds biggest software store disappears and is replaced by bouts of frustation and disillusionment. It's kind of like the Matrix...but without the shiny outfits, guns, and bewildered grunts of Keanu Reeves.

The question that we, as educational developers, want to know is, "Are there parents out there that are looking for great educational software, but are just too flustered by the App Store to bother?" I see it myself when I go...pretty much anywhere. Two-year olds playing "Angry Birds", "Cut-the-Rope", or "Plants Vs. Zombies". Granted, every game (especially physics based ones) have some educational value, but is it simply that parents are not as concerned with the apps their toddlers are playing as educational developers think they are.

Thankfully, they are.

The most telling (and encouraging statistic) that we have observed from the MWA app is the average time per use. Simply, this tells us how long a users is using the app in a single session. In the first month, the MWA app average time per use was 23:59. This is averaged over 135,000 visits from 50,000 users. Quite simply, parents are spending a significant amount of time searching for apps that meets their families needs. They were waiting for a better way to discover apps.

The Report Card: Trends in Educational Apps

As with any app that has benefited from exposure by Apple, we had a very strong start, but downloads have plateaued (cumulative downloads shown in blue). This is not discouraging, as on any given day we see anywhere from 200-500 downloads per day.

Category Browsing Patterns

Within the app, users spent 45% of their time searching through apps, 30% of their time looking through Books, 20% of their time looking through our "Apple Picks" sections, and 5% spread out among other app features (e.g. New Releases, Viewing History, Developers, etc.). Apple picks is a historical listing of the apps featured by Apple.

While browsing through the Apps category, the most popular categories with parents are as follows:

Early Learning
Art
Creative Play
Parents
Special Needs
Games
Reading
Music
Foreign Language
Math

App Browsing Patterns

During the first month, each user viewed, on average, 22 apps per session. This correlates well with the average session time of 24 minutes per session: parents are taking time to actually read the app descriptions. For developers, this means that the hours of analyzing each word in an app description were not lost. It is actually a very important part of marketing your app.

I, for one, found this surprising, as an informal survey of non-developer iPhone owners indicated that purchasing decisions were based on recommendations from friends and screenshots. When asked if they read the descriptions, I received a unanimous "No".

Unfortunately, the layout of iTunes actually encourages this impulsive purchasing by requiring you to click to read the entire description, so it is not surprising that iOS users have begun to devalue the app description.

Most Viewed Apps

Overall During the first month, the following apps were the 10 most popular in terms of times viewed. It is nice to see some newer apps listed alongside some of the tried-and-true staples of great educational apps:

My Very First App by Night & Day Studio, Inc.

ABC 123 Blocks = Learning Tool For Toddlers by The Guys in the Booth

Bug Builder by Zinc Roe

Rapunzel Classic Story HD by Kwiq Apps, Inc.

Baa Baa Black Sheep - by Duck Duck Moose

A Family Matters by Weiner Family Studios

ABC 123 Blocks = Learning Tool For Toddlers LITE by The Guys in the Booth

Draw with Stars by L'Escapadou

iTouchiLearn Words for Preschool Kids Letters, Spelling & Puzzles by Staytooned

My Underwear by Thumb Arcade

Book Browsing Patterns

When the MWA App was designed, the debate between "What's an App and what's a book?" had not really taken hold. Now it is front and center and a major concern for the book-style app developers in MWA and across the entire app ecosystem. Tales of rejections and suggestions by Apple to release book-apps through iBooks are starting to become more prevalent.

Unfortunately, this segregation was not as clear to myself and, as such, didn't amply separate out statistics for Books vs. Apps. However, the app has been updated to monitor this and the next Report Card will be able to shed more light on the subject.

The one main pattern to take away is that 98% of the Book views all originated from "View By Release Date". It appears that users are treating the virtual bookstore, much like the traditional brick-and-mortar bookstore, and starting at the new releases.

A Horse to Water

It should be no secret that the MWA app, in addition to its altruistic goals, is designed to be a marketing tool for educational app developers. The MWA developers have invested their time and efforts to curate and annotate their apps, in the hopes of making it easier for parents to find their apps and converting them to happy, paying customers. It's a win-win scenario, parents find the apps they're looking for, developers get customers who appreciate their apps (and aren't scoffing at a $0.99 price tag).

In the MWA app, the user has the option to view the app they're looking at in the App Store. This has the advantage of letting the users read reviews and, potentially, purchase the app. During the first month, 16% of the apps viewed resulted in a tap-through to the App Store. This is not purchases but simply getting to the App Store. Once in the App Store, the users may see unfavorable reviews and elect not to purchase, among other scenarios.

Without anything comparable to analyze this rate against, it is difficult to draw many conclusions. If you consider the MWA app as simply an advertisement tool, than the number is huge compared to the sub 1% click-through-rate seen in in-app ads (at least in my apps). If you think of it as a store front, than we would need more cooperation from Apple to compare it (but I'm not going to hold my breath). It falls somewhere in-between and so there are more questions than answers at this point. At the end of the day, we can say that we are helping parents find apps to better fit their needs and helping to direct them to the App Store for more information.

Moving Forward

The feedback from users has been great. For once, I 'm proud to point people to my App Store reviews for a Free app. Parents are just as excited about the role of iOS devices in education as are the developers who are working on them. However, they have been very clear that they want more from the MWA App.

We have been listening and working hard to implement them. In the next major release (coming soon), we will be introducing "Page 2", a second page in the MWA App. Page 2 will contain exclusive content from leading researchers, educators, technologists, bloggers and industry professionals all providing insights on apps, books, and parenting the 'iOS generation'. We hope that the addition of Page 2 will continue to forward the mission of MWA to advocate healthy intersections of kids and family life with technology.

The Moms with Apps app is available as a free download in Apple's App Store .

Why iPads in Schools Won't Matter (to Developers)

2011-02-23T14:17:00.000-06:00

Like many iOS developers, I fantasize about quitting my day job to go full-time at building a sustainable software development company. The bloating of the App Store, the notorious 'race-to-bottom' and even the more recent in-app subscription controversy, all seemed like enough obstacles to keep me dismayed at day job while joyously programming iPhone apps at night.

However, the excitement brewing in the educational app market, from the realization that the magical qualities of the iPad might have more to do with children learning, provided a small glimpse of a larger and more predictable app marketplace...educational institutions. If schools embrace the iPad and start purchasing them in large numbers for their students, they are going to need to purchase apps to go on each device.

Cranking the Volume in Education

Apple foresaw this and introduced "Educational Volume Purchase Program" that developers can enable on their apps. At the developers discretion, they can reduce the cost of their apps up to 50% for bulk educational buys.

My optimism about the educational market was further sparked when one of my apps, Elephonics, has been benefited from educational volume purchasing. Currently, there is a school district in Ohio and a school in Oregon that use Elephonics as part of their curriculum. Given that my sole motivation for developing the app was to help my daughter learn her sight words, it was great to know that, not only did other kids like the app, but that educators also valued it.

There's More to Rhode Island Than the Setting for Family Guy

The headline of an article published in the Rhode Island News on Monday, again provided more concrete validation about the increasing role iPads might play in formal education. Titled, "Electronic tables break down educational barriers in R.I. schools", it described a pilot program at a South Providence middle school where each student was given an iPad. It further described how school districts across the state were being trained on how to use the iPad in the classroom.

I was just about to storm down the hallway to quit my day job, when the article revealed a disheartening detail that made me slink back into my chair.

At Trinity, the iPad has nearly eliminated the need for paperback novels. The school buys one book for $6 and downloads 34 copies.

Buy One, Get the Entire School District for Free

Another magical feature of the iPad is that you can transfer purchases to other devices using the same iTunes account.

I know a few teachers in different school districts who explained to me that a single IT administrator is responsible for all the computing equipment at their schools. It is logical to assume that, if a school makes an investment in iPads, than a single person will be in charge of maintaing them and loading software on them. Using the same iTunes account, a single app purchase could them be installed on all the devices at the school.

This is exactly what the school in Rhode Island is doing.

Making the Overly Complex, Difficult

On the surface, it appears that the App Store Volume Purchasing Program was created to encourage schools to purchase multiple versions of an app because the management and distribution of the software would be simpler. The alternative, as described in the article, requires a lot of man-hours and patience to install the same apps on a lot of devices.

The teachers who were involved in the Volume Purchasing of Elephonics told me that the process was so complex that in the future they would probably just look for Free app alternatives. Just what we need...another reason for users to look for free apps instead of paying for quality software.

The Outlook

As a parent observing how my children have benefited from iOS devices, I am excited to see these devices move into the classroom. As a developer, I hope that educational institutions do not take the approach of the Rhode Island school and load a classroom full of iPads from a single app purchase. If others adopt this mentality then there will be even less motivation for developers to create great apps for educators.

Hopefully, a solution will arrive that makes it as easy for educators to purchase and install quality software as it is for my daughter to practice her sight words.

Introducing Moms with Apps

2011-02-04T14:17:00.000-06:00

Once you have kids, everything you have is up for grabs. Last Oreo cookie...gone. Tivo space...occupied by Dora the Explorer. Last sip of Coke...shared. Nice leather couch...a canvas to paint on. Playboy subscription...cancelled. Sleeping in on the weekends...never. New iPhone 4...hand it over.

Some of these concessions are livable, after all I don't really need another Oreo. Some of them are heart-breaking, since I've had that couch since college. However, some of them could jumpstart a lifetime of learning...and I'm not talking about reading it just for the articles.

Taking Education By the Hand

Parents and educators have been quick to note the fantastic educational potential of the iPhone. The interface is intuitive and engaging, while the vast selection of educational applications guarantees that you will be able to meet your children's educational needs. Want to practice early reading skills, while teaching you children how to avoid zombies? There's an app for that. For any educational subject and school topic, you can be sure that there isn't just an app for that....actually, there are hundreds.

Therein lies the problem.

Type Math, I Dare You

While the App Store has revolutionized the software industry, it is cluttered and notoriously difficult to navigate (and that's being nice). It also made $0.99 seem like a lot of money to a lot of people.

Let's just say that I want to find an app to help my 5-year old develop her math skills. I type "Math" into the search bar and you get "Math+-x+", "Math This", "Math That", "Math Math Math", "Mathy McMath Math", and so on. Are these the best math apps, or just the ones with math in the title? What kind of math is in the app? Why does iTunes only show the first two sentences? It's 3 clicks to find out what type of math this app is for. And even once you establish that it's actually a math app, what ages is it suitable for? It's enough to make you want teach your kids math the old fashioned way...with a nun wielding a ruler.

Introducing Moms with Apps

For as frustrated as users get, developers have it even worse. They have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours developing their apps. Testing, tweaking and refining every last detail. Then, because the title of their name didn't lead with "Math" followed by some random unicode symbol, their app is stuck on page 4 of search results.

Some developers decided to do something about it. Not just any developers, but the members of Moms with Apps. Moms With Apps is a collaborative group of family-friendly developers seeking to promote quality apps for kids and families. It started with a few moms chatting over Twitter, evolved into forum, and finally graduated in to a fully fledged movement to promote the best in educational apps for children.

Members of Moms with Apps represent the very best and most renown developers in the App Store. Check out the member list and you find that it mirrors the Top Educational App Lists. Collectively, over 40% of the Moms with Apps member's apps have been featured by Apple in the App Store. These developers have set the standard for excellence in educational apps.

The Moms with Apps App

In collaboration with Moms with Apps, BabyBinks is proud to introduce the Moms with Apps app. While the name is a veritable marketing nightmare, the app is a comprehensive catalog of educational and family-friendly apps from Moms with App members. The developers have painstakingly categorized all of their apps by educational subjects and provided a recommended age.

These are not the categories your not going to find in the App Store. Categories like Art, Science, Music, Special Needs and Early Learning. And what about Math? You'll be searching through Counting, Addition, Subtraction, Fractions, Division and Money to find exactly the app that is appropriate for you children. The app also keeps a historical record of the educational apps that have been featured by Apple.

It's not going to get you your Playboy subscription back, but rest assured, when you son finds a box in the basement labeled "College Textbooks" that has 18 years of magazines in it, you'll be glad you were able to find an app that helped develop early literacy skills. That way when he swears he was reading them for the articles...you'll be able to half-heartedly believe him.

Here's What Your Kids Are Missing

2011-01-28T12:54:00.008-06:00

Breaking News: Educational Apps are Coming to the Desktop

2010-11-02T14:08:00.004-05:00

In my constant search to pawn as much of my children's education off technology, I stumbled across "The Land of Me". It is an interactive storybook about "The Land of Me". It's has nostalgic graphic design, a zen musical score, and comforting narration. What really makes it standout is that its not available for the iPhone. It is a desktop application.

For my kids, this required a bit of clarification from me: "The computer is not just something to plug your iPhone into to recharge it."

The Desktop?

To be honest, I thought that desktop based educational games were 'done', conceding to the iPhone/iPad. I was clearly mistaken as I witnessed something very rare when going through the first chapter of The Land of Me....it completely captivated all of my kids at the same time. The only things capable of doing this is Flav-O-Ice popsicles, the Hex Girls Scooby-Doo episode, and the squirrel who likes to eat outside our kitchen window.

I also witnessed something else, they were playing together. This was a stark contrast to the iPhone, where each kid get a "turn", after which the device is begrudging handed off and the next kid huddles over the screen. We usually only get through 2 rotations before someone starts crying.

They all played "The Land of Me" together interacting with the characters, designing vehicles and monsters. There were some parts that responded to typing, so Ava (the oldest) searched for letters on the keyboard and sounded them out to her younger siblings.

Typing Uphill, Both Ways

Maybe gathering around the computer is our generations equivalent to huddling around the radio to hear Little Orphan Annie (apparently it was a radio show before it was a comic, before it was a movie). There is definitely something to be said for the cooperative interactions of playing together as a family, as opposed to just handing off my iPhone and hoping it doesn't get dropped.

The iPhone, due to its size is a device for only one person to operate. This leads to an individual experience not a cooperative one, no matter how much you hover over your kids while they're playing,

It seems plausible that with the way technology is evolving, typing on a keyboard may be a thing of the past. Just like my parents, who walked uphill both ways to school, someday I might be regaling stories of having to type on a keyboard using my hands. But, before that time comes, I think that there still might be a place (and advantages) to educational desktop apps.

Disclaimer: Of course, the major problem with introducing your children to desktop applications after they have only been exposed to the iPhone...fingerprints.

How I Doubled My App Store Profits in One Year

2010-10-15T22:32:00.001-05:00

The App Store is a harsh mistress. For some, it unlocks a lifetime of riches and for others it swallows months of hard work into the dark oblivion. In between, there are those who make comfortable living or those of us who make enough to pay for a family vacation.

It's easy to forget that the mobile application market is in its infancy; it's also easy to forget what a 'smartphone' meant just a few years ago. While developers flocked to iOS and rapidly adapted their craft to deal with obsfucated method names and an endless stream of braces ']]]]', their skills only gained them entry into the App Store. As we all found out, building an App was the easy part...building a sustainable business is the hard part.

But I Just Wanted to Make An App

We all had reasons to make an App, mine was to help pick a name for our new baby boy. We ended up naming him Oscar. Ironically, Stork Drop wasn't finished until 3 months after his birth.

Building Stork Drop ended up involving a lot things that I never anticipated: lawyers, bankers, marketing, budgeting, finance, etc. It started out as a "hobby", but you quickly become more and more vested in the business of software development, not just an app developer.

Doubling Down on iOS

At some point, it became apparent to me that I was heavily investing in Apple and its iOS. I paid into the developer program, I bought a MacBook Pro, I bought an iPhone and iPod Touch. Most important, I was investing hundreds of hours programming Cocoa Touch. With all of this direct investment into iOS, I was also heaving vested in Apple's success as a company.

Indirectly, I was betting that Apple would maintain it position as the industry innovator and leader in iOS. I was betting that my investment of time, money and effort were for the long term. So, I decided to double down on my investment in iOS and invest my profits from the App Store directly into Apple stock. As the plot shows, this has effectively doubled my profits from the App Store. On the release date of Stork Drop Apple sold for $149, today it closed at $314.

The success of developers, on any platform, rely heavily on the success of that platform. Apple has made it very clear how it feels about its future when it rebranded itself as a mobile computing company. Shrewd developers who believe in the future of iOS can benefit from their success in the App Store as well as in the success of Apple as a company.

A Cold Place in Hell

2010-10-13T21:38:00.001-05:00

For all you lapsed Catholics, fear not, for I have discovered that there is, indeed, a cold place in Hell. While you may spend your days slaving away amidst a pool of fire and brimstone, if you go all the way to the back of Hell (near the bathrooms), you'll find salvation. For it here that you will find rows and rows of refrigerators.

Saturday Mornings

There are many ways to be awaken on a Saturday morning. My least favorite is a swift kick in the balls. My favorites are my son babbling to his stuffed bear or the soft clanging of dishes, as my daughters try quietly to fix themselves cereal.

Last Saturday, I heard the girls get out of bed and sneak down stairs. I heard the chair dragging across the kitchen floor towards the cabinet with the cereal. I smiled as the door to the refridgerator open...then I heard "DAD! The frige is all wet!".
Purchasing a refridgerator is one of those things you just can't plan for in life. It ranks right up there with a water heater. When it breaks, you stop everything and go shopping. Unlike other major purchases, you don't have time to research and make lists. You have hundreds of dollars of food spoiling, you have a pool of water on your floor and you have 3 kids whose hearts were set on Lucky Charms and ended up with toast. This is why I am convinced that there is special place in hell, reserved for the most wicked of us, where you are forced to refrigerator shop with children under 5.

Refrigerator Shopping for Dummies

If you've never had to go refridgerator shopping (and I never had), you'll be surprised to find that you can spend anywhere in between a couple hundred dollars and a Toyota. At the cheaper end, they are white and black and barely hold enough food for a bachelor. At the expensive end, they are sleek stainless steel and could double as a bomb shelter.

We tried to convince ourselves that we needed a behemoth Sub-Zero fridge. After all it won't stain, we would only have to grocery shop once a month and we could rent it out as a small apartment to our kids after they graduate from high school (because there won't be any money left for college).

Beside the dizzying array of options (including the optional rust proofing), the large appliance sections is designed like a gigantic maze. Rows and rows of appliances with small passages connecting them. It is as it was built for nothing more than playing hide-and-go-seek. For lack of a better word, it is a playground.

Shopping With an iPhone

The good thing about shopping with an iPhone is that you can do quick product comparisons, maybe read a quick review and make yourself more comfortable with your purchase. The bad thing is that you have to look at the screen, meaning you take your eyes off your kids for just a second...

There's a lot of things that go through your mind while you're running up and down the ailses at an applicance store frantically opening fridge doors and front-loading washers looking for one of your kids. Of course, I should have realized that a 18-month old can't open a fridge door, but I was focused on imagining the worse. I also should have noticed the Electronics section immediately adjacent to the appliances. This is where I found Oscar, entranced in front of a wall of flat-screen televisions watching a DirectTV demo.

All of My Fears, Realized

The trauma of Oscar running off...the awful morning...the Lucky Charms...the colors...the depth...the width...the height...the energy profile...all but me in a very weak frame of mind.

I have spend the last 5 years developing a compelling "Dad" persona for my kids. I'm a fun loving dad who isn't afraid to play in the mud, but still is tough and makes your finish all your milk at every meal. My dad persona strikes a good balance between today's 2010 modern dad and 1950's dad. Thankfully, I leave out the dead-beat dad of the 1980-90's.

Well, it doesn't matter anymore, for I have been exposed. It didn't take long for me to loose all my dad credibility as all of my insecurities and uncertainness manifested in under 3 hours. And then, in a moment of utter weakness, for the children to see their dad succumb to pressure of buying an extended warranty. Well, I can barely look myself in the mirror.

The Best thing

Despite everything, we bought a new refrigerator that day. I say that like we really had a choice. Now as I enjoy ice cold beverages, crisp lettuce, and an overall good feeling that the meat I'm serving my children isn't ridden with E. coli and salmonella, I focus on the best thing about our new refrigerator.

It came packed in a spaceship.

In the App Store: A Week in Education New & Noteworthy

2010-10-06T07:17:00.011-05:00

It was a dark and stormy night. The full moon, barely visible behind heavy cloud cover, cast shadows over the sleepy suburban town. Down a darkened street, a single house had a single light on. From the house, eerie screams could be heard, "Daaadddyyyy. Daaaddddy. I want a drink of water."

Awoken from a dead sleep, I fulfilled the hollow request. As I shuffled my way back through the kitchen, I grabbed my iPhone to check the status of my latest app. I was rewarded for my fatherly diligence by an email from Apple: "Zombies Vs. Literacy is Ready For Sale". It's alive...alive!

I returned to sleep, drifting off dreaming about the App Store successes that awaited me.

Zombies Vs. Literacy Arises

Zombies Vs. Literacy is a simple app to help practice early reading skills. I designed it for my daughter who is learning "sight words" for Kindergarten. The teacher had prepared notecards with the words printed on them for parents to review with their children at home each night. I scoffed, "Notecards? What is this 1998?" Nobody in the room laughed...especially my wife.

Why would you want to have printed notecards that cost $1.49 for a pack of 100, when you could do the same thing with a $300 iPhone that is extremely fragile, needs to be charged daily, and has enough distractions to practically ensure that your children will end up with Attention Deficit Disorder? Why...ummm...in retrospect, seems like it probably wasn't the best idea.

Either, way I developed Zombies Vs. Literacy. The app functions by swiping to advance through sight words lists (both Dolch and Fry) and tapping to hear each letter spoken. As you advance through the list, the zombie advances towards the brain. When he reaches the brain, he declares "Brain too big!" to eat. My daughter complained that it was boring, so I included a zombie mob that runs across the screen when you shake your iPhone. They rearrange the letters and you have to fix them before you can move on.

I Won't Be Coming in to Work Today, I'm New & Noteworthy

It probably wasn't until noon of the following day, that something different was happening with Zombies Vs. Literacy. I had received 10 support emails that morning about the app. For BabyBinks this was highly unusual, as we have received just over 50 emails in nearly two years in the App Store.

With cautious optimism, I opened iTunes on my MacBook Pro. With one eye, I looked at "New & Noteworthy", but alas nothing. Shouldn't have got excited. Then I switched the education store and (wait for it)...Zombies Vs. Literacy in the #1 slot in "New & Noteworthy".

Over dinner, I told my kids how daddy would be able to spend a lot more time with them, now that I quit my job. Ok, that really didn't happen, but that dream was still alive. I was still anxiously awaiting what "New & Noteworthy" meant in terms of sales. Well I have to say, that I wasn't disappointed. Other than a "Free Day" downloads of Stork Drop, this was by far my biggest day in the App Store.

I Will Be Coming in to Work Today, I'm New & Noteworthy But...

While the first day success was intoxicating, reality set in on the next day. There was a five fold reduction in downloads. This trend continues to this very day. The part that surprised me most, was that Zombies Vs. Literacy spent the entire week in "New & Noteworthy". Literally, Monday to Monday it was listed, but only the first day saw big download numbers.

What Did I Learn

Being featured is a great feeling. Even if it doesn't translate into fame and fortune, it does mean that someone at Apple liked your app...and they've seen a lot of them. This is probably the best encouragement you can receive to continue to spend your late nights coding away.
Have a special screenshot prepared in case you get featured. I like make fancy screenshots with text and combined iPhone images for my iTuness screenshots. These look great when you have the app open to its dedicated page, but are difficult to read in your app is featured.
The undead are marketing gold! The dirty little secret here is that Zombies Vs. Literacy is really just a themed version of one of my other apps Elephonics. Elephonics has the same features, but has an elephant instead of a zombie. This wasn't part of some masterminded marketing scheme, it was simply that my daughter became infatuated with zombies after watching an episode of Scooby-Doo. I had put significant effort into marketing Elephonics (watch the commercial) which was release a few months ago, but it never caught on.

Success, Anyway You Look At It

The whole point of creating Zombies Vs. Literacy and Elephonics was to help my daughter practice her sight words. Together, we have used both apps enough to more than justify the development time. Also, she played a very important role in the app development. Watching her interact with it and listening to her brutally honest criticism, helped me to fine tune the usability and features. She also provided the voice overs for the letter pronunciations and, more importantly, the zombie sounds.

So, she is learning to read, I got a small glimpse of success in the App Store, and we got to spend a lot of time together...I would say that anyway you look at it, Zombies Vs. Literacy was a success.

I just hope that we will be as successful working together defending ourself during the next zombie uprising.

Unrealistic Expectations in Young Women (or The Threat of 'Ace of Cakes')

2010-10-02T01:30:00.007-05:00

There seems to be no end to the unrealistic expectation that the modern media creates for young women. While I initially thought it only applied to popularity, fashion, and dating and would manifest itself harmlessly in eating disorders, premarital sex, and low self-esteem, its reach is much broader and deleterious.

This weekend we celebrated Ava's fifth birthday and I, as I have done for each of her birthday's before, vowed to make her cake...from scratch...with love...and frosting. I have taken a considerable amount of pride in my cakes, from her first birthday duck cake to last year's (poorly received) princess cake. I felt that each cake, despite the questionable taste, was a reflection of my love for my daughter.

Of course, those were simpler times. When an inverted mixing bowl, layered in frosting, was believable as a formal ball gown. Those were times before....the Ace of Cakes.

As a family, we all enjoy the Ace of Cakes, however I did not realize the damage they were doing to my children's perception of what a cake was. They have completely distorted their expectations on what daddy should be setting in front of them on their birthday. And that leads to...crying (for me and them).

When Ava's finally announced (in early May) that she wanted a Scooby-Doo party, I have to admit that I immediately thought about the cake. Scooby-Doo provides a lot of options for a cake: the gang, the mystery machine, ghosts, old abandoned amusement parks. Actually, I would be interested in seeing how the Ace of Cakes would recreate an abandoned amusement park complete with a disgruntled employee.

In the four months I had to plan, I finally decided that an extra large Scooby Snack would be the best. "The best" of course being the hardest to screw up. It would be impossible to compete with the cakes Ava fawned over on TV, so I decided to keep it simple.

I am happy to report that, despite all of my worries, the Scooby Snack was a hit. Of course, before I had a chance to enjoy the moment and bask in Ava's excited smile, my dad chimed in "Why did you make a giant dog turd cake?".

"Because last year's princess cake made her cry.", I replied.

Happy 5th birthday Ava!

Tantrums, Sneezies and Sharing

2010-09-21T01:35:00.004-05:00

When I dropped off my 2-year old daughter today at daycare she was really sad. This is pretty common after a long weekend with Mommy and Daddy (and several birthday parties with endless cupcakes). I had to run to a meeting, but I told her teacher to call me and let me know how she was doing later that morning.

When I got back to my desk, I had a voicemail message from her teacher. The message relayed the following,

"Mae was really sad when you left, but I let her play Sneezies on my iPhone and she perked right up."

Two hours later, I received a follow up call:

"Can you stop by at lunch? Mae hid my iPhone and won't tell me where it is."

I was able to find the iPhone in her cubby tucked in away with her blanket and doll. I told her that it wasn't nice to take thing and not give them back. Her response, "I was just sharing...like you always say to do." Apparently, her doll wanted to play too.

Touché Mae Mae. Touché.

Proof: Children's Products Aren't Designed By People With Children

2010-09-02T15:36:00.004-05:00

Our latest trip to the dentist brought us a goodie bag full of samples. Nestled under the requisite selection of travel toothbrushes and floss, Mae found this toothbrush. If the good people at the Gum toothbrush manufacturer only knew how much time we spend trying to keep Crayola markers out our kids mouths, I think they would have passed on this idea. This is just proof that not all children's products are designed by people with children.

On the upside, Mae teeth have never been oranger and her coloring book has never been cleaner.

How To: Watermelon Popsicles (3 Months in the Making)

2010-08-31T12:00:00.001-05:00

As summer winds down, we decided it was finally time to pick our lone watermelon from its vine. Despite spreading over 20 feet of our garden (and through the fence and into our neighbors yard), the plant only produced a single watermelon. After some serious discussion about how to enjoy it, Mae Mae suggested watermelon popsicles. Everyone agreed this was a special way to enjoy our modest harvest.

As you can imagine, this is probably the simplest of all children's cooking activities. It requires only a watermelon, a bowl, big mixing spoons and popsicle molds. We found some popsicle molds at Ikea last year that have held up surprisingly well (not like the uber desk we bought in the same trip). I also have to recommend bathing suits, because it gets uber messy. So some "smash, smash, pour, smash, cry, share, time out, smash, lick" time later we had our tasty treat.

I threw them in the freezer and then turned the hose on the kids. Once we were all sufficiently soaked, and hot and tired, the popsicles were ready.

So, after 3 months on meticulous gardening, watering, weeding, and cultivating Ava concluded, "We like the other ones better." The other ones being the long, skinny, plastic sleeved Flav-o-Ices. Yep, the $1.00 for a box of 100 popsicles that they sell at gas stations. To which Mae agreed, "Next year, lets plant those."

Using Elephonics to Upgrade to an iPhone 4

2010-08-30T13:39:00.005-05:00

BabyBinks is excited to announce the first major update of Elephonics. Based on user feedback, we fixed a couple of bugs and cleaned up some of the audio. We also introduced a new feature: the stampede. Every minute, a stampede of elephants will run across the screen and jumble the letters. You'll need to fix them to move on to the next level. You can also start the stampede by shaking your device.

In addition, all of the images have been updated to take advantage of the new higher resolution displays in the iPhone 4. If you don't have an iPhone 4 you'll just have to squint your eyes or ask a friend to hold it between 5-10 feet away from your face. If you really want an iPhone 4, but you significant other doesn't understand why you need to get rid of your perfectly functioning iPhone 3G and could care less that, since you upgraded to iOS 4, it takes 4 minutes to check your Twitter status, then follow these simple instructions:

Download Elephonics telling your significant other that its a great app to teach your children to read
Give you kid a bag of potato chips. None of that expensive, baked stuff from the organic aisle. The greasier the better (and usually better tasting).
Show your kid how to active the new "Stampede" feature in Elephonics by shaking the iPhone.
Backup your iPhone and hand it over to your kid.
Go into the next room to talk with your significant other about going out of town this weekend to visit her parents.
Listen for the crash...and act surprised.

In the best case scenario, you're off to the Apple Store. In the worst case scenario, you're off to the Apple store on your way out of town to visit your in-laws. Either way, you've got an iPhone 4 to play with on the car ride.

For more compelling reasons to get Elephonics, watch the new commercial.

Look What the Stork Dropped: A Year in the App Store

2010-08-27T00:49:00.010-05:00

The first year being a developer in the App store has been a fun and educational experience. First off, it was probably only fun because I am not relying on income from my app to support my family. I have a day job that I like and don't plan on leaving to become a full-time developer. It is a hobby, the result of late nights and lunch hours, but I take great pride in my app Stork Drop. Also, I have never had any unrealistic expectations about becoming an overnight millionaire. I do, however, strongly believe that I created a software product of value that could be sold.

The App Store Is The Revolution, Not the iPhone
If I might digress, I believe the App Store is a revolution unto itself. I have studied business and entrepreneurship and never has the barrier of entry to a market been so low where the stakes were so high. Is there any doubt that competition in the App Store is so fierce? Apple has created a platform, environment and level playing field for designers, programmers and marketers to compete against each other solely on the merit and implementation of their ideas.

The App Store may be the first instance of an actual Global Marketplace. Where else could a developer in the Midwest United States wake up and find out that, while he rocking a crying baby to sleep at 3:30 in the morning, he sold his product in 11 countries (two of which he has never heard of and six of which he doesn't even know what their currency is). As far as I'm concerned, the App Store has rewritten all the rules of entrepreneurship.

A Brief History of Stork Drop
The idea for Stork Drop was conceived when I tried to find a baby naming app in the App Store when my wife was pregnant. There were plenty of apps, but they were all boring lists. None of then took advantage of the capabilities of the iPhone...or were any fun. After a brainstorming session with my 3-year old, Stork Drop was conceived. Yes, that's a pregnancy joke.

When I first starting out to work on a baby naming app for the iPhone, my wife was in her second trimester. By the time it was approved in the App Store, Oscar was two months old. During the first six moths, Stork Drop was a Paid app, with the price ranging from $.99 to $2.99 to coincide with random promotions. After fighting a saturated market with many free, albeit inferior, offerings, I moved to two versions: Stork Drop Free with advertising and Stork Drop Premium, ad-free at $2.99. Here is more detailed post about going Free.

Going Ga-Ga for Google
After a month shuffling AdMob, Greystripe and Mobclix, I was ecstatic when I was contacted by Google (yes, someone actually called me) and invited to participate in the AdSense for Mobile Content Beta. My traffic was significantly lower than they required, but I had an offering with a very lucrative demographic that they were anxious to get some ads in front of.

The great thing about Google ads is that they are served from keywords you set. This way the ads are targeted and you don't end up with random ad spam (e.g. Get Ripped Quick, Loose Weight Today, Meet Local Singles) which had been defacing my app with the other networks. Now the ads being served were all relevant to parents and babies...that meant clicks.

Blah, Blah, Blah Get to the Income
Bottom line, I made twice as much the first week from AdSense than I did in two months from the other ad networks. The page eCPM fluctuates dramatically from day to day, but on a weekly basis the income is pretty consistent. There are a couple of nice spikes that seem to coincide with holidays.

Through some rudimentary analytics I implemented with Google App Engine, it was very clear sales of Stork Drop Premium did not correlate to price changes or Stork Drop Free downloads. The conversion rate of Free to Premium was 0.2%. My best guess is that some people probably just can not stand in app advertising or they saw the Premium version in the App Store first.

Regardless of our pricing strategy or offering, we are proud to say that we have been a fixture in the top 10 ranked baby naming app in the store. This translates to between 100-200 downloads of the free version a day. Overall, we have cracked the 100,000 download mark. And just so all you game developers don't feel like your the only ones getting screwed, there is cracked version of the Stork Drop Premium circulating the Internet. Either software piracy can not just be attributed to teenage hackers or those teenage hackers don't know when to pull out. Of course, that assumes that they're getting laid.

Enough Already, How Much Did You Make?
Here is plot of the income generated from Stork Drop Free (red) and Stork Drop Premium (blue) since the implementation of AdSense. The Y-axis has been purposefully removed but it should be apparent that I am not one of the overnight millionaires you have begrudgingly read about. The Google AdSense Beta program explicitly forbids disclosing the financial details, and the last thing I want to do is get on their bad side. Its not the AdSense income I'm worried about losing; its that Google knows so much about me by now and the last thing I want is my kids finding out that I made an "independent" film back in college.

In Midwest, suburban father terms, I made enough income to make half a year of car payments on a Toyota Sienna minivan and take my family on a nice Disney World Vacation without sweating profusely over paying $20.00 for a 8x10" of my daughter and Cinderella (despite the fact I took the same picture with my digital camera).

The Future
I am optimistic about the future of App development, especially for those of us "second shift" developers. For the most part, all it costs me is time, and that's time that I probably would have just been sleeping anyway. As a rule, I have never taken time away that could be spend with my family to work on any app. I have however, extensively involved them in brainstorming and beta testing. BabyBinks has just recently released a new app, Elephonics, that I developed alongside my 4-year old daughter to help develop early reading skills. Her input was invaluable as I remember she said in response to the prototype, "It's not very fun".

As far as Stork Drop is concerned, I have a major upgrade in the works that will transform it from a just a baby naming app to a complete pregnancy tracking app. It's the most requested feature from customers and it will give me a chance to try out the In-App-Purchasing model.

Of course, just like a few other successful apps out there, I have also been busy shopping around a script for "Stork Drop: The Movie". The bad news is that my old director friend from college has picked up the option on it. The good news is that the nudity is very tasteful.

On Kindergarten and Uncommissioned Frescos

2010-08-25T23:32:00.009-05:00

Today was the first day of Kindergarten in our school district. Despite every effort, we were not able to send Ava to school this morning. Ava's birthday falls 3 weeks past the cutoff date and our school district is unsympathetic to any variance.

We tried everything, short of Photoshopping her birth certificate, to get her into school. We tried private, Catholic, new-age, any accredited school program in our area, but they all subscribe to the state recommended cutoff. One of the school hinted that this was a condition of accepting state funds, so its easy to see why no one was willing to budge.

For awhile, we were devastated that she would have to go back to daycare for another year, when she was clearly ready for school. She was the youngest in her class, but she was on par with everyone in her class. Tonight, she read Margret "Green Eggs and Ham" cover-to-cover for her bedtime story. I would say that should have qualified her for Kindergarten.

But, thats not all she did tonight. While we were putting Mae and Oscar to bed, Ava showed off her artistic ability by creating a fresco on the den wall. It was actually quite complex, three hearts representing the children, clouds, a rainbow and even the requisite angel. These are, in fact, many of the elements of early Renaissance frescos. The difference, those grace the ceilings of church cathedrals, this is on our den wall.

I was surprised that Margret and I both had the same reaction to it. We both loved it and could have cared less that someday, we will have to repaint it. Only time will tell if we are in the midst of an inspired artist, or just a rambunctious, defiant little girl who wanted to draw on the wall.

Maybe she is ready for Kindergaten or maybe she isn't, but either way, we are both glad to have our little girl for one more year.

Can I Tell You Something Funny About My Poop?

2010-08-24T19:43:00.004-05:00

INT. - THE BATHROOM - EARLY EVENING

Ava: Mom. Can I tell you something funny about my poop? 

Mom: Um. Ok. 

Ava: I made a long skinny one and a little short one across the top. It looks like a "T". 

Mom: Yeah. Now can you flush it? 

Mae: I want to see it. 

(MAE RUNS TO THE POTTY)

Mae: Cool. 

Ava: Mom do you want to see it? 

Mom: No thanks. Just go ahead and flush it. 

Ava: No Mom, you really need to see it. It's so cool. 

Mom: It's wonderful. 

Ava: Dad go get the camera. 

Mom: That's enough. 

(FLUSH)

Scream, Kick, Fall, Smack, Bleed...Good Morning

2010-07-28T10:46:00.004-05:00

This morning, I was awoken by a swift kick to the balls. Oscar was lying perpendicular to Margret and I, with his head gently resting on her stomach and his feet dangerously resting on mine. His sweet, innocent 1-year old dreams must have taken a turn for worse because he screamed and then dropped his chunky little size 5s like a hammer.

As I was curled up on the floor (I fell out of bed after the kick), I wondered if the split second I awoke from the scream actually made the kick better or worse. Just one of those thoughts you have while spitting up blood on your beige carpet. Did I mention that my face landed on metal toy truck lying on the floor?

Throughout my life, I have taken a few shots to the groin during various sporting related activities. I've even walked into a table here and there. However, in all of those cases, I always saw it coming, and at least made a feeble attempt to slightly block a direct blow. Nothing, not even a hard ground ball, even begins to compare to a direct, on-target blow from a toddlers heel.

So to recap: sleep, scream, kick, fall, smash, bleed, "Good Morning Daddy". Another ~~fond~~ memory of fatherhood that I will never forget.

It's 2:00 AM, Do You Know Where Your Dad Is?

2010-05-31T02:30:00.002-05:00

People often ask me, "Where do you find the time?".

It's 2:00 AM and I'm on the front porch assembling patio furniture. To be honest, its actually the second time I'm assembling this furniture. The first time, I assembled it in the family room. It was only after I finished that I tried to take it outside that I realized my mistakes. You see old houses had much smaller doors than the McMansions of the modern day. No matter how you twist and turn, you simply cannot get a 34" Rolston patio chair out of a 32" door.

I'm blaming this time consuming oversight on George Lucas. If the Star Wars trilogy hadn't been on tv, then I probably would have been paying a little more attention. Or perhaps, I wouldn't have constructed the entire patio set, arranged it in the family room and tested it out while enjoying a few beers. So, where do I find the time? Somewhere in the middle of the night, between the Empire and Jedi, after the second beer (but before the third).

Happy Memorial Day, it's already been one to remember (and forget).