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Ever wonder what a week as the No. 1 free iPhone app in the App Store translates to in downloads and ad revenues? One of the employees at mobile ad management platform Burstly created an app called Air Horn, which simply makes a very loud horn noise. The app, which had been out for over 6 months and had zero marketing dollars spent to promote it, recently hit the No. 1 spot on the Free App list. Developed in less than three hours by Alex Miyamura, Air Horn was at the top spot for 8 days and just dropped to no. 2 this morning. Over the past week, Air Horn has made $20,000 from advertising (ad banners) and in-app purchases. Three days before the app hit the top spot, Air Horn had 5,453 downloads within a day and was ranked 804 on the list. On May 31, the app’s first day at the top of the list, the app had grown to 173,002 downloads that day. As of Monday, June 7, the app was still No. 1 with 129,286 daily downloads. Of course, ad impressions rose rapidly as the downloads rose. Daily ad impressions on Air Horn increased from 160,000 per day to more than 2,000,000 per day at peak. As of June 7, Air Horn had served a total of 4 million 3rd party ad network impressions since reaching No. 1. Over that time, the app served 4 million cross promotion impressions to promote Miyamura’s other app Annoying Sounds. Annoying Sounds subsequently shot all the way to the No. 5 on the list within a week. Before the cross-promotion, Annoying Sounds was not even a top-1000 app. Daily ad impressions on Annoying Sounds jumped from 35,000 per day to more than 1,000,000 per day at peak. As impressions increased, so did the eCPM. The average initial eCPM on Air Horn was $2.06 and increased to an average of $2.62 over 8 days. As the app’s impressions scaled, certain ad networks started performing better and Burstly helped him optimize by prioritizing the high performing ad networks to serve the majority of the ad impressions. The click rate on the Annoying Sounds banner within Air Horn was 4.6% and the 3rd party ad network click rate averaged 3.4%. Miyamura and Burstly CEO Evan Rifkin maintain that there is no solid reason as to why Air Horn rose to the top. One theory Read More

As well as options for almost unimaginably varied entertainment, the powerful iPhone platform can be used as a learning tool. Thanks to kind-hearted developers, many of the phone’s best educational apps are available completely free. We’ve compiled a list of the 10 of the best free iPhone apps that allow you to learn a new skill in about 10 minutes (or less). Why not download a few now, and the next time you have a spare ten minutes, spend it boosting your life skills level by learning something new instead of mowing down the undead in Plants vs Zombies. Let us know in the comments what other educational iPhone apps you enjoy using. We love this app. In addition to offering instructions on how to make one of five fun objects in the Japanese art medium of origami, the app is specifically tailored to making said object with a one dollar bill. As this is something most folk will already have in their pocket at any given time (and similar sized bills can obviously be substituted in other currencies) it’s a real time filler for any of those I’ve-got-five-minutes-to-spare-and-nothing-to-do-with-my-hands moments. It’s no good in a medical emergency fumbling with your iPhone for a quick tutorial if the person in front of you is already turning blue. Instead, why not put your next coffee break to good use and get this app that offers video-based advice and tutorials on how to administer CPR to adults, kids and babies as well as providing similar content for how to carry out the Heimlich Maneuver. Ten minutes of your time now could make a big difference in the future. A great time-waster for bored cubicle dwellers, this app shows you a few different methods of tying your necktie. If you fancy looking a little swanky round the water cooler then learn how to do “The Onassis” with the easy, illustrated step-by-step guide. There are four other styles included, too, for when you want to mix it up. Always having a magic trick up your sleeve is great way to placate a child, break a silence, or, let’s be honest here, impress a date. This app gives you a how-to for about ten tricks, such as how to pluck a coin from thin air and how to make a cup levitate. It uses simple, everyday objects, so with a little fairy dust, and the magic word, Read More

Posted 12/30/2009 at 2:01pm | by Michael Simon When it comes to New Year’s Eve, it’s all about the party. From elegant, seven-course dinners to all-night drunken ragers, how you ring in the new decade sets the tone for the remaining 365 days; and since we don’t have the Macworld Expo to look forward to this year, the effects of a bad party can cast a particularly gloomy cloud over the first few weeks of 2010. But this year, you hold your own fate in your hands--literally. With an iPhone in your pocket, even the lamest of gatherings can be magically transformed into something that’s at least cool enough to chronicle on your Facebook page. The bad date The only thing worse than a bad party is a bad companion. Since you can’t exactly run out on your date (at least not before midnight, anyway), there are several iPhone-approved ways to avoid face time with your insignificant other. The easiest way to steal away for an hour or so is to fake an excuse. Using any number of sham phone call apps (we like Fake a Call, which lets you set a timer, voice type, ringtone and number with ease), you can trick your date into thinking an important call is coming through from your mom, sister, best friend (just make sure they’re not actually at the party), or, if you’re desperate, your doctor or boss. Or, to really sell the emergency, ignore the faux call and send yourself a fake follow-up text. With phase one complete (separation), you can move on to phase two, circumvention. Now, there are several ways to accomplish this, with varying degrees of difficulty. The simplest, of course, is to use your fake caller as an excuse to bail, but if you don’t want to worry about corroborating stories, head over to Google and find an illness. We recommend something with stomach pains; if he doesn’t believe you, a few sound effects from Excuse Me will more than back up your story. Of course, these are only temporary solutions, so the most proven way to keep a bad date at bay is to scare him senseless, with a little help from a few choice apps. Call your friends and insist he talks to them. Remind him every few minutes exactly how close it is to the ball-drop. Plan the first seven outfits of the new year. Read More