I’m pleased to announce that BitBQ, also known as the corporate entity in front of Mr. Patrick Burleson (@pbur), has acquired both FitnessTrack and Emergency Information from my company Second Gear.

The Backstory

Back in July I wrote:

I no longer enjoy building software for the iPhone because of the bureaucracy and infrastructure that surrounds it. I can build great software for the Mac without the headaches and bullshit of dealing directly with Cupertino and their AppStore.

After my rant, Patrick contacted me asking if I was serious about selling off my iPhone business as he was looking to get into the Indie development world and was a fan of both of the products. At the time I was half-considering it, but the prospect of someone excited about taking over the products was too good to pass up. We ironed out the details, signed a few contracts and now everything is ready to go¹.

As with most things in my life, I have to be fully committed and passionate about something, or I can’t do it at all. While I loved the iPhone applications I had built, I couldn’t bring myself to invest time and money in a platform where I was constantly questioning and second guessing.

The biggest thing I took away from my iPhone development experiment is how different both the Mac and iPhone platform are. While they share so much in common on the technological side, the marketing aspects and user base are such polar opposites. As a one-man show, it seems almost too daunting to try to juggle between two polar opposites like the Mac and iPhone market.

Just because I didn’t gauge my iPhone development experience as a successful doesn’t mean that others can’t succeed. In fact, I think Patrick is going to do an excellent job bringing both FitnessTrack and Emergency Information. I’ve got an idea of the roadmap he has for both products and I’m confident this will be a successful venture for him and for all users of both applications.

Moving Forward

As for me, I’m back to focusing exclusively on the Mac platform improving on Check Off and Today while also working on another larger scale project in the garage. I won’t rule out a return to the iPhone platform in the future, but it won’t be before Apple changes more of their policies and behaviors towards their development partners. The in-app purchases announced recently are a start, but there’s still miles to go before it’s anywhere near where I want it to be. Until then, I’ll enjoy using things like blocks, GCD and garbage collection while everyone else toils with memory warnings.

Good luck, Patrick and welcome to the Indie development community!

The Fine Print

• BitBQ - Acquisition Press Release
• BitBQ - FitnessTrack
• BitBQ - Emergency Information
• Second Gear - BitBQ Acquires FitnessTrack & Emergency Information

1. Well, almost. We’re still waiting on Apple to officially transfer the apps from my iTunes Connect account to his.

When it rains, it pours I guess. After a few annoying delays, FitnessTrack 1.1 is now available via the AppStore.

They always say that if you aren’t embarrassed by your 1.0, you didn’t ship soon enough. That was true with FitnessTrack as well. While I think the 1.0 was a solid release, I couldn’t imagine going back to using it after all the tweaks, adjustments and features I plugged into this 1.1 release.

Here’s the highlights:

• You can now filter the exercise list when browsing or adding exercises to a workout
• You can now view exercise information & previous sessions from within any workout
• FitnessTrack will now remember your selected view position on close
• You can now adjust the date of a workout
• Added set of default routines for first launch
• You can now email a specific workout or routine to anyone
• Improved compatibility with latest iPhone OS 3.0 beta
• Miscellaneous performance, stability and UX adjustments

The full changelog is available over here. FitnessTrack is available for the ridiculously low price of $2.99. Check it out!

I’m pleased to announce that my first iPhone application, FitnessTrack is now available on the AppStore.

FitnessTrack is designed to help you keep track of your progress at the gym. Whether you lift weights, run or just want to shed a few pounds, FitnessTrack is designed to replace your notebook or clipboard workout sheets.

The application was an idea I’ve wanted to pursue for quite a while. It started as a side project for the Mac a few years ago, but was given a new breath of life with the release of the iPhone. It became obvious that it would and should be on the iPhone.

FitnessTrack features the following:

• Workouts: I tried the other fitness applications on the iPhone and none of them worked the way I thought when it came to actually being in the gym and keeping track of what you are doing. FitnessTrack is my spin on how I think this should happen. Add your exercises, set the number of sets and adjust your weights: all in a beautiful and intuitive interface.
• Exercises: FitnessTrack includes over 65 professionally designed exercises. I’ve partnered with Custom Fit Personal Training here in Evansville to design the exercises and give detailed, easy to follow instructions on how to perform them. You can also create your own exercises should you need to supplement the list.
• Routines: Have a workout you repeat often? Save it as a routine that you can use to populate a new workout. Routines store the exercise and number of sets for each respective exercise.
• Fitness Profiles: Fitness Profiles is designed for those that are trying to reach a certain weight or inches goal. I tend to put myself in 6-8 week cycles where I have a certain goal of trying to put on a certain amount of muscle in the timeframe, losing a certain percentage of body fat, etc. I designed Fitness Profiles to allow me to keep track of that information via the iPhone.
• Gorgeous UI: One of the things I’m most proud of in the application is the look & feel of the app. Thanks to the work of the awesome William Wilkinson, FitnessTrack looks like it belongs on the iPhone. I’ve tried to ride the line between a completely custom UI and the iPhone standard (striped table views = yuk), and I think it looks tremendous.

FitnessTrack is available right now for the low introductory price of $3.99 on the AppStore. I have quite a few features planned for the future and I hope you’ll come along for the ride with me.