That New App Smell...

We got some really good news from Apple yesterday.

Our new app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, passed inspection and it's ready for sale.

But you can't have it yet.

Why? Because we set our launch date to June 12.

Why? Again, you ask.

As much as we'd like to just rush our app immediately into the App Store, it's generally wise to control your launch.

The app is technically approved and ready which means we have 100 promo codes to share with whomever we like (yes, you can download and play your app with a promo code before it is live in the App Store). We'll use this time to distribute codes as a sneak preview for reviewers who * we hope * will have nice things to say about our new app. We've also suggested that they coordinate their reviews with our planned June 12 launch. And if they want to share some kind words before the launch, we can use those quotes in our launch promotions and our App Store description.

You only have one shot at being brand new, so make the most of it.

Drive About: Number Neighborhood Arrives in the App Store June 12

The Morning After (Submitting The App)

I only wish Lis could have been here to share the moment

Just look at the joy, the unmitigated elation, captured in this freeze frame from yesterday afternoon.

This is the moment we submitted Drive About: Number Neighborhood to Apple for review.

It is the pinnacle of months of work and a roller coaster ride of emotions.

The road to the App Store isn’t all fun and games.

There were days of uncertainty and doubt on this journey and lets just say our first foray into localizing for languages beyond English has been...educational.

But now that we’re at the end of the road, and we know that we’ve made an app we can be proud of - it really does feel good.

We can’t wait to share it with you.

Stay tuned for a release date (and coming soon for Android!)...

driveaboutnumbers.com

The App Video Teaser (Drive About: Number Neighborhood)

We're getting very close to launching our new kids app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, and I'm pleased to share the app video teaser with you.

The app video is a key piece in your marketing plan and should be prominently displayed on your website - especially if you're developing paid apps for Apple's App Store. Currently, there is no way for users to preview your app in the App Store so the video becomes the only way to give potential users a look at your app in action. If you're publishing to Amazon and Google Play, you can include your video right in the app listing (just make sure you're not flashing iPhones and iPads in the video).

We've created teaser videos for each of our apps and made them available on our YouTube channel for your viewing pleasure.

There are lots of tools available for making the app video. We typically use Reflector for app screen capture and we use Flash for compositing because it fits our workflow. 

We almost used an outside production service for the Drive About video because we've been so busy working on the app, but fortunately the stars aligned and this video came together really quickly over a weekend.

We like to use the app music to drive the picture (no pun intended) and we key off the natural hit points for emphasis, and I think this is especially effective in our Drive About video in a sequence about midway through at 0:40 where we swap the backgrounds to show the "world."

But the best advice I can give you is to plan ahead and use the tools and strategy that get the job done.

If we did our job, the video should leave you wanting more.

And check out our tips on how to Make Your YouTube App Video a Marketing Machine - it's easily our most popular post.

Stay tuned for Drive About: Number Neighborhood!

Marble Math FREE Friday, May 16

We've updated our award-winning Marble Math and Marble Math Junior apps so you can earn more marbles!

To celebrate, we're offering Marble Math for FREE this Friday, May 16th (normally $2.99)

Tell your friends.

Marble Math Free 5/16 For iPad & iPhone

New Marbles For Marble Math

We've been so deeply entrenched in the final stages of production on our latest kids app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, that I almost forgot to mention a nice update to the award-winning Marble Math family.

We're set to release new Marble Math and Marble Math Junior app versions this week, adding new marbles to both games.

Now you can earn zebra, leopard, chameleon, parrot, python, peacock, cow and butterfly marbles.

Keep your eye out for the updates in the App Store this Thursday.

And stay tuned for a special Marble Math promotion this App Friday.

A Winning App Icon

A big and beautiful Drive About: Number Neighborhood app icon

You voted and we listened.

It is with great pleasure that I now introduce the winner of the Drive About: Number Neighborhood app icon challenge.

You also told us we absolutely had to find a way to get some numbers into the art so we made some adjustments.

Drive icon at standard viewing sizes

We really like icon and we're grateful for your help.

Today, we're making some last minute tweaks before shipping the game for beta testing.

If all goes well, we'll release the app in about a month.

You can sign up for our newsletter and we'll keep you informed as we get closer to launch.