14 DAY TRIAL // Business Insider has a story about a developer who coded a simple alarm clock application for the iPad, which turned out to be a brilliant idea. In just 30 days, the 99-cent app called Night Stand HD recorded some 20,000 downloads. Rohit Singal, CEO of Sourcebits (the company behind the app), claims to have made thousands of dollars thanks to his simple iPad alarm clock app.
Rohit says there are a few key reasons why Night Stand HD has been such a huge hit: “A.) Brilliant design with bug free coding, B.) Focus on one thing and one thing only, C.) Value for money.” And, according to the report, a fourth factor would be cutting the price from $2 to 1$ (99 cents), “which always gooses sales.” However, the biggest winning feature here was Apple’s decision not to include an alarm clock in OS 3.2, the enhanced version of the iPhone operating system powering the tablet device, and Rohit acknowledges this.
Rohit tells Business Insider that he has had sales of about $100,000 solely from iPhone apps this year. Android applications nabbed him a meager $5,000, he claims. His company, with offices in Banglore and Atlanta, has 200 developers and a number of designers in different corners of the world. The business is profitable, having generated $3 million in revenue last year, Rohit reveals. This year’s forecast is six to eight million in revenue, and Sourcebits is betting on the iPhone to help it reach these figures.
Applications like Night Stand HD are Sourcebits’ to own, but the company also works with the likes of GE, NBC, Hersheys, and Coca-Cola, the same report reveals. Asked about the relatively weak Android sales, Rohit pointed the finger at Google's Android Market, saying, “Google does not provide web links that we can link to app -- they have no web store. Google being a web company, this is unacceptable.”
Sourcebits emphasizes building apps for Apple products, while the most demand for work is iPhone applications, the report says. Still, according to Sourcebits’ CEO, Android demand is increasing, and the upcoming Software Development Kit (SDK) should help Android grow even more.
Using the link below, iPad owners can get to Night Stand HD on iTunes and download the app to their library. Recently updated to version 1.1, the alarm clock app features a new Milk theme, individual volume controls for each alarm, and fixes a crash issue.