Cronk Software, originally Cronk Games and founded in 2008, is a software development startup based out of East Greenwich in “the business of bringing games, applications and new ideas to a variety of mobile platforms, including iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms.”
The mobile market has been good to Joel Evans, founder and managing director, who says his company is in expansion mode and looking to hire two more employees this year. The coming year is going to be filled with “incredible” apps we won’t know how we lived without, he says.
PBN: The last time you spoke with Providence Business News was in March 2009. What has Cronk been up to?
EVANS: We were Cronk Games back in March 2009, and we rebranded as Cronk Software, as we have clients who are both mobile gaming and mobile-application-based. We now have a number of mobile products of our own, and have brought to market many mobile products for others. We also went back to our founder roots and now offer mobile-strategy services, where we work with a company to bring their brand, product or service mobile.
Some examples of our recent work include working with the Oregon Lottery on an iPhone app for their players – and soon to be available for Android phones. We also released our popular Cronk game for Palm OS devices. Last year saw the introduction of the iPad, and Cronk Software introduced an interactive vegetarian-recipe app the day the iPad was launched, which was in the Top 100 apps for its category.
We also developed several iPhone and iPad apps for clients who introduced these apps within their companies on an enterprise basis, bypassing the iTunes App Store for added security.
One of the coolest apps we developed was working closely with O’Reilly Media to design and develop the iPhone app: The Geek Atlas Companion. Based on O’Reilly’s popular book, “The Geek Atlas,” this app lets you zero in on sites that have real technological interest – organized geographically by country (and by state within the U.S.). You get fascinating, detailed information, maps, photo galleries and even an interactive quiz, about each location.
In Rhode Island, we worked with the Rhode Island International Film Festival organization to develop and release the RIIFF 2010 app and the Horror Film Festival app, which allows an attendee at the festival to view up-to-the-minute festival details, a schedule of films, photos from past events, and more, all from a mobile device.
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PBN: What’s 2011 going to look like for the mobile software development industry?
EVANS: There are a number of products on the market that let nondevelopers build functional applications for mobile devices. These products are making it easier to bring a mobile solution to market. We see this as a unique opportunity for us since we are true mobile developers and as a result can do the impossible by leveraging the software development kit for whichever device we’re coding for.
The most amazing thing we’ll see in 2011 is the proliferation of tablets. We’re already seeing a ton of new devices being announced at CES that are powered by Windows, WebOS and Android, and the next iPad and iPhone are scheduled to hit the market the first half of 2011. This means that even more people will be consuming mobile applications, which will only help to accelerate the growth of the mobile software development industry.
I also think that 2010 was a “playing” year for most software developers. Now that the iPad and other devices like it have been in use, the true utilities will begin to surface and we’ll see some incredible apps hitting the market that we don’t know how we lived without. It’s our plan to be the developers of a number of those, of course.
PBN: Any thoughts on the 38 Studios move to Providence and how it will impact the tech community?
EVANS: I think it’s a great thing for Rhode Island. The company has recognized that there’s talent here. It’s something that we knew when we headquartered Cronk here to begin with. I also think that it will encourage other companies to build offices in Rhode Island and further invest in the Rhode Island tech community. I’m also hopeful that investors will see Rhode Island as a value center of tech talent, and begin investing in cultivating that talent and keeping it here in Rhode Island.
PBN: You’ve previously mentioned that you wanted to leverage local talent, have you been able to do that? If not, why?
EVANS: Yes, we have a good network of business development, marketing, graphic artists and developers as part of our team and local consultants we can tap into.
Our goal is to build out a strong company that employs many Rhode Islanders, and the 38 Studios move lends even more credibility to the fact that Rhode Island is loaded with people who possess sought-after talent.
PBN: What does Cronk have planned for the next 12 months?
EVANS: We are already seeing that more clients want and need help with their mobile strategy, not just help developing their apps. This is a growth area for us, and with more than a decade of experience advising on mobile strategy, we’re well positioned to lead this market. We’re also really excited by what we’re seeing with location-based services and payment services, and how they tie in with mobile devices. We’ve got some exciting apps planned for release in the second quarter that will redefine how you use your mobile device.
In addition, on the gaming front we’re currently in development of a game based on the popular Funny Face brand, which was a drink mix that featured six different fruit characters. This is for a Los Angeles-based animation studio, scheduled to release the first quarter of this year, with more games on more mobile platforms to be released throughout the year.
