In this day and age, new tech startups are pretty much a dime a dozen.  Everyone thinks that they have that next million dollar idea that could take the world by storm; unfortunately, very rarely is this the case.  Fortunately enough for recently founded Pinger, Inc., they may have found their niche in a big way.  Taking advantage of increased texting rates for cell phones, Pinger has created a unique application that allows you to receive texts for free on your iOS mobile device.

As ludicrous as the concept sounds, not only has it been successful, it has been running away with the entire market.  The Pinger iPhone app was originally priced at $5.99, with the cost of the program going towards offsetting the hosting and service fees.  However, not only has the app gone free in the store, but the company is looking to expand functionality further.

Before we get too carried away, the obvious question in everyone’s minds is how did Pinger manage to become free and still stay solvent?  Really, the answer is as simple as listening to your radio or watching television: paid advertising.  Just try to wrap your brain around the concept of this single app, according to VentureBeat.com, being able to serve up over 1.2 billion (yes, that is with a ‘B’) ads, attached to the 4 billion free texts that have been exchanged over the last year or so.  Not only is that a staggering number of ads, but a overwhelming volume of text messaging.  These are the kind of investment opportunities that venture capitalists salivate over, and has since allowed the company to raise another additional $11 million dollars for expansion.

Pinger’s first line of business is to use this infusion of funds to develop a way to expand their interesting marketing scheme to the world of voice communications.  If they have their way, short of an ad being played while your call is being connected, they are hoping to bring free calls to iPhones via both 3G and Wi-Fi, and the iPod Touch via Wi-Fi very soon.  How soon will we have this in our hands, you ask?  A press release dated back in June states the technology is going to be “available later this summer,” but seeing as how that time period has come and gone, I can only assume that we will be hearing an official announcement very soon.

Rest assured that as soon as we know anything, you guys will have all of the details.

FREE!

Textfree Unlimited

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-02-27 :: Category: Social Networking

[via VentureBeat.com ]

Black Friday Awesomeness
First off, I hope that everyone (in the US) had a great Thanksgiving. It was a fairly standard Thanksgiving this year I think… the Cowboys won, the Lions lost, there was far too much turkey consumed, and everyone patiently awaited for the shopping madness the following day. Black Friday 2009 turned out to be a bit of a drag for normal stores, but was a fantastic day for App Store customers. On Black Friday we posted an article with all the sales that we could find, including sales from almost every major developer in the App Store. It was especially great for those of you that were looking for a new GPS app, as we found 6 different GPS apps significantly reduced in price. Some of the sales are still going I think… and with Cyber Monday being today, we may see a few more go on sale. Boy do I love consumer holidays!

More Black Friday Awesomeness
Being the consumer all-star that I am, I went out and braved the masses on Black Friday. It was quite crowded, but I really wasn’t there to buy a ton (although I did get suckered into a cashmere sweater… don’t judge me), I just wanted to go out and see if there were any huge deals out there. Because I’m an App nerd, I thought that it would be fun to use Red Laser to see if the prices were good or not. I had never really used the app much in the wild, and was really shocked at how well it worked. Next time you’re going out to buy something, I’d definitely recommend checking out Red Laser… there’s a reason it’s been in the top 10 for so long.

FREE!

RL Classic

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-05-13 :: Category: Utilities

How To Stop Piracy
I’ve been thinking about how I would stop piracy if I were an app developer. Sure, you could go into a bunch of tricks and gimmicks that hurt the user experience, or you could just throw up an advertisement. Now most people think that advertisements should only be in free apps, but why? Why can’t a developer be out to make a bit of money to support the App Store’s obsession with 99 cent apps.

I just got an email from iTankster (who, oddly enough is based in Rosenberg, TX… right down the highway from where I am), saying that their newest app, iTankster, will have an advertisement.

“iTankster has a single advertisement from the sponsor in the menu screen of the game, featuring in both the legally paid as well as the resulting pirated versions. This will ensure that even the pirates will see an advertisement. The developer is hopeful that the pirates will support the game by either clicking on the sponsor advertisement or by paying for the game later. While placing of an advertisement is bound to cause a controversy among some users who feel that if they paid for an application it should be advertisement free, the vast majority understand that in today’s world with rampant piracy developers have to look at alternative means to earn revenue for recovering the cost of development.”

Rock on iTankster. By no means do I support piracy in the App Store, but if you do in fact steal a game that has an advertisement, it really is your civic duty to click on the ad. It’s just good karma.

$0.99

175+ in 1 : AppBundle!

iPhone App - Designed for the iPhone, compatible with the iPad
Released: 2009-11-20 :: Category: Utilities

Another Word On Ads
Sorry to get on my soap box here, but I really think that people need to rethink their repulsion towards unobtrusive ads in paid apps. I don’t want it to get annoying, but is a small ad on a paid app really that big of a deal? Just think, because of that ad, that developer may make twice as much money, giving him/her the opportunity to make an even more developed app in the future. I myself would like to see every developer become absurdly rich… most of them are really great people with some great ideas for bigger and better apps.

And seriously, if the market demands apps that are less than $3, why not let a dev make a few bucks on his/her project that could’ve taken 100+ hours to complete.

This Weeks Sign of the Apocolypse
You know, being right around Thanksgiving, I’m going to choose to be thankful this week that the App Store, and all of the apps in it, exist. The moral high ground feels good sometimes.

Fact For Will Raskin
Did you know that prior to this last game, Oakland was 3-0 when playing in Dallas? Weird.