Skip to Content
Skip to Table of Contents

← Previous Article Next Article →

ATPM 17.12
December 2011

Columns

How To

Segments

Extras

Reviews

Download ATPM 17.12

Choose a format:

Segments: Slices from the Macintosh Life

by Abe Balsamo, http://www.AppsByAbe.com

Nowhere to Go But Up

ATPM receives many press releases each month. Most of them are merely informative, but we enjoyed this one so much that we had to publish it verbatim. —Ed.

• • •

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Apps by Abe has recently released their 3rd Apple Application, “Pocket Brain: A To Do List.” After the initial release, about a month ago, Abe Balsamo & Co. sent a Press Release to help stir interest around the world. The press release was a hit. It got cited by a blog and led to 2 total downloads of the application. With such high expectations on this underachieving Apple Application, Abe Balsamo & Co. has nowhere to go but up.

Taos, New Mexico—After the success of his previous two apps, “Arrhythmias” and “Unwritten Rules of Baseball,” Apps By Abe owner, Abe Balsamo, is “going for the jugular.” He says the release of his third application, “Pocket Brain: A To Do List” is a direct attack on the Apple iPhone application “Reminders” which comes Free with every iOS 5.0 iDevice.

“When I realized that Apple was getting into the business of giving away a free and awesome To Do List with the release of their new operating system, I figured that I could capitalize by putting out a simple, not-nearly-as-refined-or-cool-or-easy-to-use To-Do List… and charge for it! I figured I could make more than them if I charged for it, and I was right-on!”

“For $0.99, you can now download my app, “Pocket Brain: A To Do List,” which will bring nothing extra to your experience on your iDevice!,” says Abe Balsamo, President and developer and lone employee of Apps By Abe. “In fact, the Pocket Brain has been know to forget stuff, but never fear, it remembers some information-sometimes!”

An anonymous reviewer wrote: “This is the least-great app I have on my iPhone, and that is absolutely saying something…I’ve got some real crap on my iPhone! I’m so glad I wasted my life savings on this app. Just today, it forgot that I was supposed to pick up my daughter from school, but then it remembered…a day later! She was so pissed and hungry when I got there. I thought it was funny, though… it was, like, real artificial intelligence, complete with forgetfullness! What an app!”

With over 2 downloads (estimated, more-or-less) over the past month, the app has so much potential. This may be the application that makes Abe Balsamo & Co. (the ‘& Co.’ is his dad’s dog, Fifi) famous. “Maybe someday I’ll be able to move out of my parent’s garage (which he calls “The Garage”) or at least help with the rent!” “I’ve already made more off it than Apple has made off of their “Reminders” app, maybe someone should remind them to charge for theirs’,” Balsamo says laughing out loud. He points out that “he’s sure” Apple spent more time and money developing their app than he did. “Apple’s business model is all messed up! How do they expect to ever make a dime?” Balsamo asks rhetorically.

With such high expectations on this underachieving Apple Application, Abe Balsamo & Co. has nowhere to go but up. “It’s good to be at the bottom, looking up. That way, I can see how much more I need to offer to be successful. At least I’m not in the forest (in the competitive market) where I probably couldn’t see the forest for the trees.” How then, could Mr. Balsamo know that his application is so fricken bad? He has a point!

With so much to be done and some much competition to conquer, optimism is high in “The Garage.” “I think I’ll go to the the coffee shop this weekend, celebrate my success by spending my $1.40 on a cup-of-joe, and harass the guy next to me to download my app. Then I can write it off as a business expense and maybe get another download…that would be awesome!” As you can see, Balsamo is a business genius and really has nowhere to go but up! In Balsamo’s own words, “I have finally gotten a significant piece of the market share in a burgeoning multi-billion dollar industry.

Also in This Series

Reader Comments (0)

Add A Comment





 E-mail me new comments on this article