iMind Software

After long time we refreshed our award winning Budapest Timetable application in the Apple AppStore.

The main element of the update is the ability to update, however silly this sounds. From this point on the application downloads and updates the fresh timetable database regurarly.

Many things have changed on the market since we published the program. iPhone4 is here, needing higher resolution and the wave of new Android handsets give us the final impulse to finish that version also. One thing is constant: our app is offline, using internet connection only if it refreshes the database, but you can do this at free wifi points at home or in cafes. It’s still an important feature for youngsters using iPod touch or people having an expensive 3g connection, like tourists.

The application sends us anonymous usage statistics if the user opts in, which helps us to tailor the features for their needs. The UI elements were polished by Zsolt from volll again.

Have you seen the new version? Come and check out the project’s web-, facebook- or twitter site.

After we got really nice feedback about the app, many companies started new mobile projects with us. We can’t wait to have them public and show them to you :)

Are you going to start mobile project also? Why don’t you drop us a mail, we would be happy to talk about it.

On May 20, we made a presentation called iPhone as a marketing tool on the conference of the Hungarian Direct Marketing Association. The conference took place in the holiday centre of Hungarian Telecom in Balatonkenese, with the Lake Balaton, table football and bowling alleys. When I realized that I was sitting in a resort which had previously been the property of Matav, facing a commercial about Postal services, I felt a little nostalgic. :) (the successors of the old, united Hungarian Postal Services after the change of the political system in Hungary were Matav, Hungarian Postal Services and Antenna Hungary). The conference was a bit slower and more conservative than those underground IT conferences that we are accustomed to, but it was really informative and friendly. 

At last, I did the presentation, since Peter preferred not to attack the poor marketing people with the mysteries of Objective-c. We tailored the message a bit, so I only talked about what we have reached by our application called BpMenetrend (BpTimetable) if we look at it as a marketing tool.

Being program developers, we have never learnt marketing, we were only loaded up with a little of it while working, so we have started to think about it by plain common sense. We wanted to see how many people we can reach for how much money, and what this reach has brought to us. This presentation was made based on this:

Some comments:

• - We were also surprised while counting, but if we put the screens of the users of the application next to each other, it would make 4.3 billboards :)
• - We haven’t found adequate smartphone user statistics from the Hungarian market. This is why it could be interesting what we have experienced.
• - For calculating the cost per user, we took the costs of the project on the basis of market prices.
• - We started the application with the aim of positioning iMind as a mobile application developer as well. We managed to, we keep getting requests to develop mobile apps. 
• - The application became very successful, we are working on it to refresh timetable data and to publish the application for other platforms as well.

All in all, our conclusion was that it is really worth to buy reach with iPhone applications right now. We think that it’s an important factor that there are few good Hungarian applications, so it’s really easy to get attention by a practical and free application.

So, if you have a good idea, then contact us, we are willing to tell our opinion about it.