Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.
Simpalm was able to reproduce our apps for native Android and iOS, which was a breakthrough in many ways. It made the apps work more efficiently, and it gave us a codebase, which could be picked up by a different developer easily.
They did a phenomenal job of translating our existing apps into their respective native versions. Simpalm worked on a fixed-cost basis, which was ideal from our standpoint. We knew that they would finish the job without any cost fluctuations.
The design came from the existing apps entirely. Simpalm also made a customized version of our Android app for the Barnes and Noble NOOK.
How did you come to work with Simpalm?
We were looking for a developer within our area. They're located close to our company. I've met with them a few times, but most of the work has been done through phone conversations and emails subsequently.
Price was also a big concern for us, given that we're just starting up our business. It was important to keep costs low, since we didn't have a revenue stream coming from the service yet.
Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?
The total development cost for our original project was between $10-50,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The work is ongoing. Simpalm's main challenge was to redo our Android and iOS apps. Since completion, they've been enhancing them, adding features like a sleep timer for the audiobook player and changing playback speed. They will be building Apple CarPlay into our iOS app, since listening to audiobooks in their car is an important feature for people with long commutes.
The app delivered by SimPalm has been downloaded 8,000 times since July 2016, the client and users compliment that it’s very intuitive and easy to use.