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These days, you can do just about anything from your smart phone, from checking news headlines to popping virtual bubble wrap to playing Sims 3.
Those kinds of applications that are available for download to iPhone, BlackBerry and other mobile platforms come from companies – think Facebook – and eager software developers who spend nights and weekends (or ditch their full-time jobs altogether) in the hopes of making a buck and having fun in the process.
Some develop free programs, hoping to make money by selling advertising, while others peddle theirs for 99 cents or more. Apple sells the programs through its App Store, which opened last summer and now has 50,000 applications. It keeps 30 percent of the proceeds and pays developers the rest.
While there are fewer application developers in Charlotte than in Silicon Valley or even Raleigh, a growing number of local software developers have joined the smart phone craze in recent months, experts say. A group of them meets once a month in south Charlotte to share ideas, successes and missteps.
Apple releases its new iPhone today, and its new features are likely to spark a whole new set of applications, those in the industry say. And though the App Store is considered the premier outlet for smart phone applications, other manufacturers are interested in expanding or building their own applications stores, industry publication InformationWeek reported recently.
“I think this is the new frontier,” said Andy Sharp, a Weddington developer.
Sharp and other local developers spoke with the Observer recently about the learning curve, the risks and the rewards. Here are their stories.
Andy Sharp and Suki Chima, developers, TuringStudios
Sharp and Chima met years ago while working for Merrill Lynch in Manhattan, where they developed in-house trading software. They followed a manager to Wachovia's investment bank and, about three years ago, followed the jobs to Charlotte.
One day, the pair got to talking about developing an Internet application, a combination of a game and an investment-monitoring program. When they heard about the iPhone, they thought that platform might work better than the Web.
They formed a company, TuringStudios, and in November started developing a test application, PortfolioLive, that allows users to track their stocks. There were similar iPhone applications out there at the time, but “we thought, well, we can do a bit better than that,” Sharp said.
PortfolioLive launched in February and has been downloaded about 8,000 times, for $5.99 each.
“When we first went into it, we thought, wouldn't it be great if we could sell 10,000 in a year?” Sharp said.
Sharp and Chima's contracts at Wachovia expired in March. Chima, 41, took another job at a SouthPark trading firm, but Sharp, 38, decided to develop full time for TuringStudios from an office at his Weddington home, filled with four computers and his iPhone.
Now, TuringStudios is developing a large application – set to launch soon – for a company in Wilmington, plus a few other applications. All are related to “some kind of finance product that people research, buy and use,” Sharp said.
It hasn't all been smooth sailing. It took Sharp, who had never developed for Macs, about three weeks to feel comfortable with the language, he said. In addition, the process was difficult. There are no concrete rules on developing applications, and Apple seems to reject some for no reason, he said. Luckily, PortfolioLive was accepted in four days, Sharp said.
Sharp, who draws a salary and splits the rest with Chima, has made enough money so far to pay his bills. He's hoping TuringStudios continues to grow to support better servers and equipment and, eventually, fund Sharp and Chima's retirement, he said.
“We've got some good ideas out there,” Sharp said. “We're not sure whether there is a future in this or not, but we'll see.”
The developers have also learned an important lesson: Not every application is going to find instant success.
“Don't go in there and think you're going to be the next 99-cent app millionaire,” Sharp said. “You're better off buying a $1 lottery ticket.”
Babak Keradman and Joe Helton, developers, Zarboo Software
Keradman and Helton, who met while working as software developers for Wachovia, remember standing in line to buy the first iPhone when it hit store shelves.
Soon after, they were spending long days at the office dreaming up applications and sketching ideas on break-room napkins. They eventually came up with Zarboo's first application, the SpeakEasy Voice Recorder, a recorder they say is more intuitive and has more features than the similar products out there for free.
Keradman, who lives in Charlotte, and Helton, who lives in Mount Holly, started working on the product in March 2008, staying up all night to write codes. On July 4, a week before the App Store opened, they submitted the idea to Apple. The SpeakEasy was one of the first voice recorders available, they said.
In the months that followed, a popular industry blog ranked the recorder among the top applications of its kind, and Apple ran a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today that listed a handful of applications – and “there, between Bloomberg and the Yellow Pages, was SpeakEasy Voice Recorder,” Keradman said.
The publicity gave the pair credibility in the industry and boosted their confidence, he said.
“Going into it, we thought, the whole world is in that,” Keradman said. “How do you compete with that?”
Now, SpeakEasy has sold about 100,000 units for $1.99 each. It's been ranked in the top five in the App Store's business category for some time, Keradman said.
Keradman, 30, still works for Wachovia, but Helton, 32, whose contract ended recently, is developing for Zarboo full time.
Next month, the pair is launching SpeakEasy 2.0, a new version that offers editing capabilities and other features. They'll be facing more competition – the new iPhone itself features a voice recorder – so they're considering branching into gaming.
Zarboo's first game, due out in late summer, is a turn-based strategy game similar in concept to Battleship but set in a futuristic space environment, Helton said. Keradman hopes it and the other endeavors are successful enough that he can develop applications full time, he said.
“Not only would it be profitable, but it would be fun,” he said. “I don't particularly care for banking.”
Darin Pope, consultant and developer, PlanetPope Inc.
When one of Pope's clients wanted an iPhone application last August, Pope figured it was as good a time as any to learn how to develop one. Soon after, he had created a restaurant-related application, an extension of his client's Web site.
Because of a confidentiality agreement with the client, Pope could not give further details about the program, he said. Around the same time, the longtime software developer – who worked in the airline, finance and entertainment industries before becoming a consultant – learned how to create programs for BlackBerry and other smart phones, he said.
Pope, 42, who lives in Wesley Chapel, has since built a few other applications, including a game, a paid application that will launch in July, he said.
The most difficult part for Pope was finding the time to learn, he said. The process was also difficult – his first application was rejected at first and then took two months to make it to the App Store – not to mention the frustration over trivial applications (the “stupid ones,” he said) that have taken off.
Despite the headaches, it's easy to sell applications through the App Store, and “to me, that's cheap money,” he said.
And if an application gets viral enough, or if it's the first and best on the market, there's a lot of money to be made, Pope said.
Eventually, Pope wants to create a few of his own applications, make enough to pay for his daughter's college education and keep learning from others.
“Some people,” he said, “have already plowed up this ground.”
Kirsten Valle: 704-358-5248
