Microsoft brings Bing to iPhone, RedLaser tops $1M in revenue
Microsoft's search engine, Bing, now has its own application on the App Store that allows voice search, location finder, maps access and more; and the popular RedLaser app has earned more than $1 million in revenue.
Bing arrives on iPhone
The Redmond, Wash., software giant announced the new application's release on its Bing blog. Much like the browser-based Bing.com, the application shows the image of the day and clickable hotspots that include trivia.
It offers search of images, movies, maps, businesses, news and directions. Users can even check their flight status on the go.
"Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing," the official description reads. "See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the Web with your voice -- even say an address. Use Image Search and flick through previews. Download Bing today to find stuff nearby and get there fast."
Initial response to the Bing application has been positive, as 191 of 247 reviewers have given the software five stars. It has an overall score of 4 and a half stars.
The free application (iTunes link) is a 1.9MB download that requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
Bing is the third application on the iPhone and iPod touch from Apple's rival to the north. Its previous releases are Tag Reader, an application that reads barcode-like Microsoft Tags, and Seadragon, which allows easy zooming and panning of large images.
Microsoft has tried for years to gain a strong presence in the online search business. The market is currently dominated by Google, which has its own iPhone application: Google Mobile. Last year, the software was updated to allow its own voice searches.
RedLaser's App Store success story
Occipital, a development team with just two employees, has managed to earn more than $1 million from the success of its $2 iPhone application RedLaser. The software uses the iPhone's camera to scan the barcode of an item, and then searches online to find better deals for the product.
After a slow start with no publicity, RedLaser (iTunes link) became one of the best-selling applications on the iPhone by the end of September. Currently, according to MobileCrunch, the software is selling about 6,000 copies per day, and has earned well over $1 million in revenue from more than 750,000 downloads. It has been consistently in the top 5 paid applications of the App Store for the last three months.
"Co-Founder Jeff Powers says that though the app hit the market in May, it wasn?t getting any traction," the report said. "After releasing an update to the app which made it 'actually work,' according to Jeff, they saw a dramatic increase in sales. This was despite the fact that they did nothing different upon the re-launch and got almost zero press pickup when they updated the app. The hypothesis is that this came entirely from word-of-mouth sales, which is probably a good bet. Who wouldn?t want to show off to their friends the cool new barcode-scanning price-checking app on their phone?"
This week alone, the application has been featured on Martha Stewart Living and in The Wall Street Journal. Occipital plans to release more App Store software in the future.
Bing arrives on iPhone
The Redmond, Wash., software giant announced the new application's release on its Bing blog. Much like the browser-based Bing.com, the application shows the image of the day and clickable hotspots that include trivia.
It offers search of images, movies, maps, businesses, news and directions. Users can even check their flight status on the go.
"Make decisions and get where you need to go with Bing," the official description reads. "See the Bing daily image and related trivia on the home screen. Search maps or the Web with your voice -- even say an address. Use Image Search and flick through previews. Download Bing today to find stuff nearby and get there fast."
Initial response to the Bing application has been positive, as 191 of 247 reviewers have given the software five stars. It has an overall score of 4 and a half stars.
The free application (iTunes link) is a 1.9MB download that requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later.
Bing is the third application on the iPhone and iPod touch from Apple's rival to the north. Its previous releases are Tag Reader, an application that reads barcode-like Microsoft Tags, and Seadragon, which allows easy zooming and panning of large images.
Microsoft has tried for years to gain a strong presence in the online search business. The market is currently dominated by Google, which has its own iPhone application: Google Mobile. Last year, the software was updated to allow its own voice searches.
RedLaser's App Store success story
Occipital, a development team with just two employees, has managed to earn more than $1 million from the success of its $2 iPhone application RedLaser. The software uses the iPhone's camera to scan the barcode of an item, and then searches online to find better deals for the product.
After a slow start with no publicity, RedLaser (iTunes link) became one of the best-selling applications on the iPhone by the end of September. Currently, according to MobileCrunch, the software is selling about 6,000 copies per day, and has earned well over $1 million in revenue from more than 750,000 downloads. It has been consistently in the top 5 paid applications of the App Store for the last three months.
"Co-Founder Jeff Powers says that though the app hit the market in May, it wasn?t getting any traction," the report said. "After releasing an update to the app which made it 'actually work,' according to Jeff, they saw a dramatic increase in sales. This was despite the fact that they did nothing different upon the re-launch and got almost zero press pickup when they updated the app. The hypothesis is that this came entirely from word-of-mouth sales, which is probably a good bet. Who wouldn?t want to show off to their friends the cool new barcode-scanning price-checking app on their phone?"
This week alone, the application has been featured on Martha Stewart Living and in The Wall Street Journal. Occipital plans to release more App Store software in the future.
Comments
“Actually works” is a great feature to add!
Then to mention anything about MICROSOFT
Stories like Red Laser are ones that inspire Innovation and excitement amoung new developers and current, for the BEST PLATFORM in the mobile arena.
Appleinsider should not waste their time, talking about microsoft or there "apps", unless it's about the failure and destruction of the company and it's effort's.
Congrats to RedLaser! I like hearing stories about an artist or developer succeeding purely on merit, with no marketing.
?Actually works? is a great feature to add!
If I remember correctly it was that after they launched the software they discovered some bugs. When they issued a patch they had to go twenty rounds with the App Store approval folks. It took months to figure out what Apple didn't like and to get a patch that worked and Apple approved of.
With the latest version of the app, reviews are extremely difficult to find, removing most of the value of the app. Most of the good press from the app was for the previous version, so be careful if you're buying it now.
Two guys. One 2$ app. Over $1 in less than a year.
And they're not alone. The DotCom fortunes made years ago are now being remade in the App Store, except this bubble doesn't look like it's going to burst for quite a while.
Enter the power of the App Store.
Two guys. One 2$ app. Over $1 in less than a year.
And they're not alone. The DotCom fortunes made years ago are now being remade in the App Store, except this bubble doesn't look like it's going to burst for quite a while.
There is no "bubble" (yet?). The "bubble" was the difference between actual generation of wealth/value and market valuation. Stock prices were way, way higher than any basis in actual ability to generate value. This time we have the opposite situation, where much of the new value being created is not being represented in the market.
In fact I don't forsee myself ever downloading Bing.
Red Laser and Starbucks Mobile Card are going to be the new wave for mobile transactions here in the US. Asia is already out front with this integration of barcode scanning.
Red Laser and Starbucks Mobile Card are going to be the new wave for mobile transactions here in the US. Asia is already out front with this integration of barcode scanning.
you got some nerd rage going on about microsoft. please tell us how you really feel.
EDIT: i think there are some good features in the bing app. voice search is kinda nice.
good for Red Laser making a good app and making money in the process.
RedLaser was the single coolest app on the AppStore until they took away direct links to Amazon.com. Whenever I shopped anywhere for anything over $20 or so (books, toys, whatever), I'd scan it with RedLaser to see what the 'net price on it was and whether it was getting good/bad reviews.
With the latest version of the app, reviews are extremely difficult to find, removing most of the value of the app. Most of the good press from the app was for the previous version, so be careful if you're buying it now.
what's to be careful about - it's all of $2.
Red Laser and Starbucks Mobile Card are going to be the new wave for mobile transactions here in the US. Asia is already out front with this integration of barcode scanning.
What if Microsoft did the same with iTunes and not allowd a Windows version? Everyone would be wanting to sue them not to mention iPod, Touch and iPhone sales would tank seeing the majority of the install base is Windows users.
you got some nerd rage going on about microsoft. please tell us how you really feel.
Not to take away from the real and inspiring topic of the article (Red Laser)
Apple only allowed users to install that piece of trash on their OS to drive more sales and to bring more users to a relevant OS that's far superior then anything microsoft can crap out. They did this with the idea that Switchers would say "HEY!! iDon't really need this piece of crap Windows XP or Vista or 7 on my mac and nor do I need the stolen software of Microsoft office on my mac either" iWork does everything and more compared to Office, and OSX speaks for itself. Though the we still have people using macs and clinging on to the past with windows and office.
It literally infuriates me to see someone running windows on mac with the impression of " Apple supports my using of windows on their machines" well guess what people THEY FREAKING DONT!!! .... I can see steve answering an email from a disgruntled Mac User thats having problem with windows.
User: Dear Mr.Jobs, everytime I run windows I have sluggishness and frequent crashes, it also make me run anti-ware. I thought your computers didn't do such, what can I do to resolve this
Steve: Why are you using windows? Get rid of it. Problem solved. Not that big of a deal.
Steve
You have to go 2-3 pages before you see more than 1 star.
Reviewers are saying it's gone from searching lots of items to none.
Not to take away from the real and inspiring topic of the article (Red Laser)
Apple only allowed users to install that piece of trash on their OS to drive more sales and to bring more users to a relevant OS that's far superior then anything microsoft can crap out. They did this with the idea that Switchers would say "HEY!! iDon't really need this piece of crap Windows XP or Vista or 7 on my mac and nor do I need the stolen software of Microsoft office on my mac either" iWork does everything and more compared to Office, and OSX speaks for itself. Though the we still have people using macs and clinging on to the past with windows and office.
It literally infuriates me to see someone running windows on mac with the impression of " Apple supports my using of windows on their machines" well guess what people THEY FREAKING DONT!!! .... I can see steve answering an email from a disgruntled Mac User thats having problem with windows.
User: Dear Mr.Jobs, everytime I run windows I have sluggishness and frequent crashes, it also make me run anti-ware. I thought your computers didn't do such, what can I do to resolve this
Steve: Why are you using windows? Get rid of it. Problem solved. Not that big of a deal.
Steve
you seriously have some rage issues. businesses will use windows for a long long time. one thing microsoft does is support legacy hardware pretty well.
last i knew, apple did support using windows on their machines.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/compatibility
if they didnt support it, would they put bootcamp on the systems?
What if Microsoft did the same with iTunes and not allowd a Windows version? Everyone would be wanting to sue them not to mention iPod, Touch and iPhone sales would tank seeing the majority of the install base is Windows users.
Unfortunately Microsoft couldn't even think of that option because that would add to the pile of anti-competitive practices & monopolization that already hangs over the company as much as it rains in Redmond.
Though if they were to try such a stupid move to block out Apple. It would just push Apple to further innovate how to distribute to Window sufferers through probably a Web Application, which in turn would accelerate Apple's plans to move towards the cloud quicker then expected.
Microsoft can't play that type of game with Apple (It's market share is still to large) to play the role of victim. Apple though can play that card if need be
What if Microsoft did the same with iTunes and not allowd a Windows version? Everyone would be wanting to sue them not to mention iPod, Touch and iPhone sales would tank seeing the majority of the install base is Windows users.
It's true that my first iPod on Windows started me on the path to the Mac.
However, now that I have switched, I'll pass on installing any of Microsoft's apps on my hardware. Over the years I have come to realize that the further away from Microsoft I stay, the better off I am.
Some will say they have improved over the past decade. Well, I just spent most of last Saturday reinstalling Vista on my friends computer because it was so screwed up it couldn't even boot up in safe mode.
Thanks, but I'll pass. The only Bing on my iPhone will be White Christmas.
Unfortunately Microsoft couldn't even think of that option because that would add to the pile of anti-competitive practices & monopolization that already hangs over the company as much as it rains in Redmond.
Though if they were to try such a stupid move to block out Apple. It would just push Apple to further innovate how to distribute to Window sufferers through probably a Web Application, which in turn would accelerate Apple's plans to move towards the cloud quicker then expected.
Microsoft can't play that type of game with Apple (It's market share is still to large) to play the role of victim. Apple though can play that card if need be
You're not getting the real point. My point was why bother hating on MS when they contribute to the success of Apple. Your point to another member is well taken that Apple also uses bootcamp and Windows as a selling point, Office for Mac is used by most Apple users and about 85% of all Apple users still use Windows on some level.
Also iPods and iPhones are also mostly used by Windows users seeing the largest install base of iTunes is by far iTunes for Windows. Back in 2007 the install base for iTunes was around 500 Million.
The very simple fact is without Windows users many of the products that Apple makes would be failures if they were only supported by OSX. Snow Lepoard install base right now is around 5 million its safe to say that at the very least 85% of iPod and iPhone users are also Windows users.
Talking about what Apple might do without Windows or MS is a waste because that isnt the reality of the situation.
It's true that my first iPod on Windows started me on the path to the Mac.
However, now that I have switched, I'll pass on installing any of Microsoft's apps on my hardware. Over the years I have come to realize that the further away from Microsoft I stay, the better off I am.
Some will say they have improved over the past decade. Well, I just spent most of last Saturday reinstalling Vista on my friends computer because it was so screwed up it couldn't even boot up in safe mode.
Thanks, but I'll pass. The only Bing on my iPhone will be White Christmas.
Again my point was the vast majority of iPod and iPhone users are also Windows users. So being pissed at MS when they help Apple make money is stupid.