Why the Next Bill Gates Won't be Canadian an Open Letter to our Political Leaders

During the past two years, the technology sector has been making a big shift towards mobile computing. A tsunami is sweeping the whole field. Mobile operating systems are quickly becoming prominent and even moving towards replacing traditional Desktop OSs. At the same time, two polar opposite business models are competing. A closed proprietary system in which Apple controls every hardware, software and revenue streams and a competing system based on open source technologies mainly managed by Google along with a coalition of hardware and software companies and an open source community. This ecosystem is open to a huge population to compete and sell their creations. Canadians however, are forbidden.

About a year ago, in the height of the financial crisis, I was temporarily laid off and I started developing a software product for the open source Android platform which I intended to sell in the Android Market an alternate source of revenue. After doing a first prototype, I discovered that not only were Canadian users of the Android platform shut out of the Android Market, the main store where users can download applications. Canadians could not purchase any apps, but also Canadian developers and businesses were not allowed to sell on this store.

I thought to myself that this was a temporary situation resulting from Google and the Android platform being in its infancy. In the mean time, I ported my app to Apple's iPhone/iPod touch platforms and became relatively successful selling educational software that help students learn anatomy. Even as an independent developer working alone, my apps dominated the medical section of the app store for more than 6 months. At the same time, I was waiting for Google's platform to open to my apps so that I could have a presence and compete there too.

It has been more than a year and the open Android platform is quickly gaining popularity. Canadians can now buy apps in the Android marketplace but Canadian developers and businesses are still shut out of this market.

A year is an eternity in the tech sector and the big players are starting to establish themselves as leading mobile software businesses before Canadians even have access to this market. We are in a situation where Canadian developers are not even able to sell the fruit of their labors to their compatriots who are free to buy apps in Google's store none of which are allowed to be from Canada. Canadians are not able to participate in one of the more rapidly growing and most lucrative facet of this technology. We are left out.

The new mobile devices allow us to communicate, email, tweet, talk and work. In the coming years, they may well become the main computing platform. Canadians are used to be pushed out of leading edge web music and video mediums which often become available years after everyone else in Canada but this time it is preventing our businesses to participate in the greatest innovation in technology since personal computers.

It is very difficult to achieve success when international competitors get a two years head start. Currently countries allowed to sell on the Android store include Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Spain, United Kingdom and the United States.

The window of opportunity is very small for these kinds of technological revolutions and the current climate risks driving the next Canadian Bill Gates out of business.

Benoit Essiambre
http://speedanatomy.com

Speed Anatomy Lite released!

Speed Anatomy Lite offers the same experience as the full version in 12 great levels.


How fast can you point to your liver or gall bladder? Do you know the difference between, the sacrum and the manubrium? Speed Anatomy is an addictive game that tests your speed and challenges your knowledge of human anatomy!

"This game is a blast! If you are at all fascinated with the way the human body works, Speed Anatomy is a must!" -http://iphoneapplicationlist.com

Impress your doctor with your cunning intellect on your next visit after playing Speed Anatomy!

-Earn points for precision and speed.

-Compare high scores with your facebook friends using OpenFeint.

-A magnifying glass appears when holding your finger on an image allowing you to achieve more precision and higher scores.

This games is fun for everyone and it makes life easy for those tackling anatomy for high school, university or medical school. Practice mode allows you to learn specific regions without doing all the previous levels. Review mode lets you replay all the mistakes you made in the last game.

*If you enjoy this game, please rate it in the app store. I greatly appreciate your support!*

"This game is a blast! If you are at all fascinated with the way he human body works, Speed Anatomy is a must!"

Read this great review by Jeremy of iphoneapplicationlist.com which includes additional screen shots.

iKleinBlue Rejected!

"We've reviewed your application iKB 1.0 and we have determined that this application contains minimal user functionality and will not be appropriate for the App Store."

I thought this might happen because of the unusual nature of iKB, an app based on Yves Klein's art and the color he developed: International Klein Blue.

I can see that this sort of post modern, new realism experiment would easily be dismissed by reviewers. The app basically consists a screen filled with blue (for a similar experience try this web site).

After the rejection, I wrote to the reviewer and urged them to reconsider taking into account the historical and artistic context of the app, the numerous websites dedicated to Yves Klein's art, the philosophy of the real and the unreal, the emphasis on a raw material and a on a unique and pure color and even the impressive market value collectors attributed to his paintings (one sold for $21,000,000 in 1962), all despite the fact that they were basically simple blue rectangles. iKB was priced at the bargain price of free! I also asked that they take into account the explanation I gave on the app's web site, the research I did to get the closest representation possible of Klein's color on an iPhone including aquisition of real ultramarine pigment which I then used to make the artwork for the app's icon.


One of the reason I did this app was that I thought Apple's platform was well suited as a medium to reintroduce Klein's work. Apple's design philosophy has many parallels with Klein's art. Listen, for example, to Jony Ive in the new imac promotional video "... just display and then no display." and then listen to Klein's monotone symphony, a note and then no note.

I did try to stretch the arguments and mentioned to the reviewer that if they really require more functionality they should notice the slight gradient in the blue color giving the appearance of a matt texture. It's even animated to the accelerometer using drawing functions only available in OS3 which makes the app incompatible with iPhone OS2.

In a nutshell, I asked that they don't reject the app for its immediate simplicity but that they look at the greater context.

I got a second e-mail saying I should add more functionality and resubmit. After a reply rejecting this idea, they called me on the phone to tell me I should do a gallery showing multiple Klein artworks and descriptions.

But this all goes against Kleins philosophy. And regardless, art shouldn't be explained, it should be experienced. Plus all the information and descriptions one could want is already available on the iPhone to any one who can be bothered to type "Yves Klein" in the web browser.

The point of the app was to make a direct impact and introduce Yves Klein through a transposition of his ideas to today's technology and media. Maybe you could call it a new virtual realism.

In the end it was another interesting experiment in what can get through to the app store. Maybe recognizing an art experiments is above what can be expected from a large scale review operation responsible for judging the level of parental control that should be applied to toilet humor apps and softcore pornography.

I certainly don't regret the time I have spent even if it didn't result in a virtual lineup of people waiting to download my app like when Klein presented "Le Vide" (The Void) exhibition consisting of an empty all white gallery.

Plus, I now have an artwork and an interesting conversation piece in my living room allowing me to introduce Klein and his awesome color to guests and visitors.

Ad Supported iPhone Game, A Counter Example to Elf Command

The developers of the free game Elf Command have recently published blog posts (here and here) describing their experience using in app advertisement as the source of revenue for an iPhone game. Although their game was well received and even featured in iTunes as part of the App Store’s Holiday section, the ad revenues generated were disappointing. Their app made less than $16 in the first two weeks. If you are a developer and these results made you lose any hope in monetizing your free app, read on. This story might change your perspective.



Speed Bones Lite[iTunes] is a game that helps students learn human anatomy. It has been relatively popular in the medical section of the App Store. It was made to promote the paid version Speed Bones MD[iTunes] and has been available in the app store since May 2009.

Google contacted me less than three months ago and suggested I put one of their banners in Speed Bones Lite as part of their Adsense for Mobile Applications beta program (This was before Google aquired AdMob). Normally I would not have had the necessary volume of downloads to meet the criteria for the beta program but they were specifically looking to put advertisements in medical applications and very few medical apps have high volume, the medical section being the least popular section of the App Store. The paid version of my app had a good run but because of new competition, it was starting to fall off the charts. I had nothing to lose by trying to get a little bit more revenues with Google ads.

At the time, I was getting about 600 to 700 downloads of Speed Bones Lite per day. I thought to myself that if I managed to make $5 a day on the ads, that's $150 per month, it would be worth my efforts. I submitted an update to the app store with the Google ads and since my expectations were low, I forgot about the whole thing.

A month later, after the ads had been running for almost two weeks, I decided to take a peak in my Adsense account.

I jumped a little when the overview page presented me with the following line:

Today's estimated earnings: $118.17

Now, I happened to log in on a day with above average earnings but since then the numbers have been consistently good. My free game is now making more than all of the pay versions (Bones, Muscles, Angiology, Anatomy) and on some days, more than all of these versions combined.


For an app with little visibility and relatively small download numbers (now about 400/day), it is doing suprisingly well with advertisement.

The number of page impressions is much higher than the number of downloads. This has been encouraging for me as it means people are not downloading and playing only once or twice. They are returning to it many times.

Clickthrough rate has averaged 2.6% since the beginning and the eCPM has been excellent, averaging 14$ during the period and surpassing $35 on one day.

I don't know if my success is atributable to Google's excellent targeting algorithm or maybe to the fact that players from the medical field are worth more per ad clicks than other gamers. All I can say is that, in certain conditions with certain populations, it is possible to make money with ads even for relatively low volume applications. Given the amount of money Google dished out for AdMob, I would bet that I am not the only developper profiting from ads.

If you like the Speed Anatomy series of apps please nominate Speed Bones MD for the Best App Ever Awards in the Best Educational App category (since there is no Best Medical App category).

Also let Dan Grigsby know you like my app as he will help chose the official nominations.

Happy Holidays!

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Speed Anatomy Released!

I am pround to annouce that Speed Anatomy was just released on the app store (app store link). It is based on the same engine as Speed Bones MD and Speed Muscles MD but it is targeted at a more general audience. The levels in Speed Anatomy cover more common body parts and don't require players to recall detailed medical anatomical terms. However, because it covers much more body parts than the other games, it still ends up being the longest game in the series.


The new game contains 28 levels, including an overview of bones, muscles, arteries, veins, respiratory system and digestive system. You also get levels covering lungs, pharynx, larynx, nasal cavity,oral cavity, dentition, liver, pancreas, brain, auditory system and visual system. only $.99

This games is fun for everyone and it makes your life easy if you are tackling anatomy for high school, university or medical school. Practice mode allows you to learn specific regions without doing all the previous levels. Review mode lets you replay all the mistakes you made in the last game.

Speed Anatomy Promotional Website Launch

Just to let everyone know, I put online a promotional website for the game series. If you were not able to decide whether to buy my games or not and you felt professional looking marketing material would help sway you, there it is. Click on the link and you will also discover that the newest game in the series with the plain title "Speed Anatomy" is comming soon. I would even say that it is imminent (assuming it gets pass the gatekeepers of the app store).

http://speedanatomy.com/