German application developer FutureTap announced its acquisition of fellow developer TapTapTap's GPS-based iPhone app WhereTo for $70,000, heralding one of the first publicly-announced acquisitions of an application developed for the iconic Apple device. TapTapTap put WhereTo up for sale in October after announcing the company planned to split, adding the app generated about $200,000 in sales during three months in Apple's App Store.
FutureTap was founded earlier this year by longtime Mac developer Ortwin Gentz--in a blog entry [1], Gentz writes that opted to purchase WhereTo instead of creating his own location app because of the length of the developmental cycle. Time-to-market was another critical factor, especially in the midst of the holiday season. Gentz also noted the WhereTo brand is now established in the iPhone consumer market. "There is not really any experience how to value an iPhone app," he adds. "If you offer too much, you'll never get your return on investment. If you offer too little, someone else gets the deal."
VentureBeat notes that WhereTo is not the first iPhone application to change hands: Applications firm Tapulous acquired Twitter iPhone app Tweetsville from independent developer Ed Voas before he went to work for Apple.
For more on the WhereTo acquisition:
- read this VentureBeat article [2]
Related articles:
App Store [3] downloads top 300 million mark
Is App Store [4] pricing hindering development?
Links:
[1] http://www.futuretap.com/blog/how-to-purchase-an-iphone-app/
[2] http://venturebeat.com/2008/12/18/futuretap-nabs-where-to-in-first-acquistion-of-an-iphone-application/
[3] http://www.fiercemobilecontent.com/story/app-store-downloads-top-300-million-mark/2008-12-07
[4] http://www.fiercedeveloper.com/story/app-store-pricing-hindering-app-development/2008-12-11