Yes, it's true. We've sold SprintGPS Fitness Tracking to US fitness company Peaksware. Whilst we're a little sad to see it go, this project has been a real success story. It was our first app after all and we built it in-house entirely from scratch. It was our response to the new global opportunities for sales via the App Store and our chance to lead the way for our clients. Want to know how it happened? 

 

It all began in 2009...

 

Mobile app development was still very new, but we started focussing on mobile technology, a lot. Kenny (our MD) realised that the emerging mobile web and mobile app marketplace was really starting to gain momentum. In his words:

"As consumer appetite for the smartphone grew, it was only a matter of time before the mobile space would become very important to our clients too. So, we set about building our own apps, not only to bring in new revenues but to improve our knowledge of the marketplace. We wanted to lead our clients by example."

So, we built the health & fitness app, drawing greatly upon our core expertise in interactive design and technology. We built an app that could offer the same tracking functionality as alternative, more expensive, hardware devices on the market, but far more accessible. We built Sprint GPS Fitness Tracking.

It was designed to help walkers, runners and cyclists track their activities and monitor their fitness levels. It measures distance, time, speed, pace, calories and altitude in real-time. Other features, including ghost running, detailed in-app statistics and sharing tools make the app a very motivational health & fitness companion.

 

 

It wasn't all plain sailing though.

Developing an app when the mobile market was still young was not without its challenges.

"When we suddenly had over 200,000 customers downloading our product, our traditional b2b focus was transformed. We learned a lot.Its success not only came from building an effective app; dedicated marketing and customer support also helped the app to achieve 5 star ratings in the App Store."

But, we did a really good job and we won a lot of awards.

The Sunday Times gave it a thorough bench test and rated it 5/5. Then on the App Store it reached the 'Top 5' in key territories around the world including the UK, USA, Australia, Germany and Sweden and more than 80% of its user reviews were rated 4 or 5 stars.

Then came the accolades, we were deemed 'worthy winners' by judges at The Herald Digital Business Awards last year, picking up awards for 'Best Digital Supplier' and 'Best Use of Mobile Technology'. In the same year it was nominated for a British Interactive Media Association (BIMA) award alongside Nike.

More recently, we picked up the award for Best New Product or Service at the ScotlandIS Digital Technology Awards in June 2011 for our innovation in the mobile space.

 

And, we got lots of attention (which is when we met Peaksware, the new owners)

Specialist US health & fitness company Peaksware LLC were so impressed that they approached Screenmedia and offered to buy the app outright. The company, who develop software systems to help individuals and professionals achieve health, fitness and peak performance, wanted to start offering mobile solutions. Gear Fisher, CEO & Co Founder of Peaksware said:

"Mobile GPS tracking applications make it convenient and easy for consumers to track their exercise and Peaksware is constantly innovating to make fitness tracking a seamless part of the training experience."

"With SprintGPS's world-class design and user interface, runners, cyclists and walkers of all levels will be able to easily record their time, distance, route, steps and more using only their iPhone." 

So, to paraphrase Kenny, we're all really happy that our hard work has paid off and benefited thousands of users, ourselves and Peaksware. We think our success comes from the fact that we identified a new marketplace, created a successful product using our core skills, then marketed it and sold it fitness enthusiasts around the globe. Kenny will tell you:

"We established an entirely new revenue stream for the business and built a solid reputation as Scotland's leading mobile app developers."

We timed things perfectly too. The mobile app market is continuing to grow at a considerable pace and, according to a recent study by 'Markets and Markets', the total global mobile applications market is expected to be worth $25 billion by 2015 (up from about $6.8 billion in 2010).

 

Makes you want to develop an app doesn't it. Well, you could run your idea past us.

Want to try the app yourself? Sprint GPS Fitness Tracking (now called Training Peaks GPS) has been re-released in 4 versions, look out for them on the App Store:

Run Tracker Pro for runners

Cycle Tracker Pro for cyclists

Walk Tracker Pro

Pedometer Pro