appsbar

Managed by the marketing trio of Scott Hirsch, Michael Richmond, and Shawn McNamara, appsbar provides a free interactive online service that builds apps for mobile devices. Through its wizard Digi, appsbar offers a simple interface through which Mac, Windows, or tablet users can create or update apps for a wide variety of uses. The demand for a service like appsbar was evident following the launch of www.appsbar.com in April 2011. Within the first two weeks early users of the appsbar site had built over 7,500 apps.

Through appsbar, users can build apps to announce events, advertise products, provide maps, deliver coupons, or even create fill-in forms. The appsbar wizard also allows users to customize the appearance of their apps by selecting from a variety of background colors and typefaces, choosing from a library of images or by uploading images. Users of appsbar can customize even more by attaching a ringtone to an app. To help users get started, appsbar offers step-by-steps guides for several dozen apps tailored to specific uses, including sharing information about a charity, about books and authors, for accounting firms, law firms, or even educational establishments.

While the apps created are automatically optimized for Android-based smartphones, appsbar uses html5, an open standard, as well as proprietary filters to ensure that apps are compatible with Windows-based devices, Blackberries, and Facebook. Once a user builds an app and submits it for publication, an appsbar software developer will review it and make sure that it meets the standards required to publish it through Android Market or iTunes, depending on the builder's preference.