[Scan-DC] Tucson brothers create hit iPhone application

[Sean Hoyden]

It would be great if they could do a similar app for the railroad and
airplane buffs.  One that could pick up railroad frequencies and actually
label them based on the location of your Iphone.  For example, if I'm in
South Dakota and I pick up the UP and BNSF road channels, or in Florida and
pick up Florida East Coast Railway.

Would be a hell of alot easier to travel as a railfan.

Wonder if they've got an e-mail address out there somewhere. . .

On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 12:25 AM, Alan Henney <alan at henney.com> wrote:

>
> The Associated Press State & Local Wire
>
> June 30, 2009 Tuesday 8:01 AM GMT
>
> Tucson brothers create hit iPhone application
>
> BYLINE: By PHIL VILLARREAL
>
> SECTION: STATE AND REGIONAL
>
> LENGTH: 561 words
>
> DATELINE: TUCSON Ariz.
>
> A pair of Tucson brothers aim to render police scanners obsolete.
>
> Parker and Marshall Minardo, owners of a software company called EdgeRift,
> created a $1 iPhone application called Emergency Radio that gives users
> access to more than 1,200 radio feeds from police, fire and emergency
> frequencies around the country.
>
> Within days of its launch in early May, the application shot up to No. 2 on
> Apple's list of paid applications. As of Friday, Emergency Radio was still
> ranked in the top 40.
>
> More than 180,000 iPhone and iPod Touch owners have downloaded Emergency
> Radio, and the application is currently averaging between 1,000 and 1,200
> downloads per day, said 20-year-old Parker, Edgerift's CEO.
>
> The Minardos who run the business out of their Tucson home keep 70 cents
> from each sale, so the application is making the brothers flush with cash.
>
> "Maybe we'll go out to breakfast," deadpanned Marshall, 26, the company
> president. "We haven't made any plans to celebrate. We're just trying to
> keep it going."
>
> A free version of the application, which lets you listen to emergency feeds
> in a few big cities, has been downloaded 80,000 times.
>
> The application taps into the groundwork laid by ScanAmerica part of the
> RadioReference.com network which streams the scanner feeds. Emergency Radio
> makes the feeds easy to access on the iPhone and also lists the police, fire
> and rescue squads' codes and their definitions so you can understand what
> the emergency workers are talking about.
>
> EdgeRift was not exactly an overnight success.
>
> It all started in 2001, when Parker started developing applications for
> personal digital assistants.
>
> He and Marshall formed a business called PDA Performance that found limited
> success selling applications that organized contacts and streamlined the
> user interface.
>
> In 2004, the company moved to Tucson so Marshall could earn a political
> science degree from the University of Arizona. The brothers relaunched the
> company as EdgeRift in February 2008 and shifted the focus to developing
> software for the burgeoning iPhone.
>
> "All the top apps were entertainment and games, and we were thinking of
> what would be fun and exciting on the iPhone," Parker said. "It kind of
> occurred to us that with all the online feeds from emergency and police
> scanners, there was no easy way to access them and play them on the iPhone.
> We thought it would be great if we could do that."
>
> It took the duo four weeks to put the application together, with Parker
> handling programming while Marshall worked on logistics, such as customer
> support and day-to-day operations. Apple approved the application on April
> 18 and released it in early May.
>
> Emergency Radio caught fire, picking up 50 sales the first day, then
> doubling for the next several days.
>
> "It appeals to so many different people out there," Parker said. "Policemen
> and firemen are e-mailing us, and they're so excited they love it. It really
> worked out well."
>
> The Minardos will release a free update to the program next month and are
> considering working on a version for the BlackBerry. The brothers say they
> work 80 hours a week and are considering renting out an office and hiring
> one or more employees to help with the workload.
>
> "It's very strange," Marshall said. "We worked very hard for this one. We
> never expected anything like this. It's just unbelievable."
>
> Information from: Arizona Daily Star, http://www.azstarnet.com
>
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-- 
Sean Hoyden
703.899.8893

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety,
deserve neither liberty nor safety."  -- Benjamin Franklin