A Look Back at 2012...

Tis the season to reflect back on the year gone by.  And here at gWhiz, it’s been another good year.  We have realized solid growth in overall sales of our engaging mobile educational apps - no small feat given the political and economic uncertainties we all faced in 2012.  We expect continued gains in market share in 2013 as the mobile apps currently under development are released and our newer existing products take hold.  

One of our latest and most exciting innovations this past year was PrepZilla, our multi-player test-prep mobile gaming app.  In the spirit of the popular Words With Friends app, PrepZilla allows for asynchronous game play, turning test prep into a social experience.  With downloadable premium content from major educational publishers including McGraw-Hill, Barron’s, FLVS, and CCI, PrepZilla appeals to a wide audience.  Available on iOS, PrepZilla is like no other study tool on the market today.  But the innovation didn’t stop there.  

User feedback has always been important to us, and our flagship flashcard app gFlash led the way in 2012 with user-driven upgrades.  This year we rolled out a much-requested new version of gFlash+ for Android with features previously available only in our iOS version of gFlash.  Now Android users can enjoy complete integration with Google Spreadsheets, a premium library of high-value publisher content, flashcard boxes, image flashcard support, embedded HTML and much more.  gFlash+ for iOS also received some major updates this year including the premium library, integrating pictures and audio with the flashcard editor, email sharing of flashcard sets, and the ability to sync purchases via iCloud.  Genius, we know.  

But lest you think we have focused solely on our internally developed mobile apps, we would like to point out the exciting new partnerships we have forged with leading educational publishers.  In 2012, we contracted with Pearson to develop a dynamic application for teacher candidates entitled Teacher Prep, to be released in early 2013.  We also began work on The Official GRE Guide mobile app from ETS, the creators of the GRE exam.  And our current relationship with McGraw-Hill continues with several new titles in 2012 including MCAT Exam Prep, PreTest Self-Assessment and Review, Lange Medical Flash Cards, and College 101 Exam Prep Questions.  We are grateful for the continued support of these and all of our publisher partners.   

Of course, what would the point be of all these achievements if no one knew about them?  We asked ourselves the same question.  So, this year, we have expanded our presence across numerous social media sites.  You can friend us on Facebook, tweet us on Twitter, pin us on Pinterest, stumble across us on StumbleUpon, link to us on LinkedIn and follow us on YouTube.  Our apps have even been showcased in a few network TV spots.  In a word, we are EVERYWHERE.  

As you can see, a lot of good has come our way this year.  So, we’d like to take a break from all the hustling and bustling, tree trimming, and holiday shopping to say “thank you”.  Our success has depended upon many things - user loyalty, solid relationships with our publisher partners and dedicated employees.  But the key to our steady climb has been the steadfast support of our family and friends.  And for all of this, we are grateful.  

Happy Holidays.  

Dogs are People Too...

Okay, well not technically.

But they are considered part of the family, aren’t they?  And along with that family status comes responsibility.  Dogs need to be fed, bathed, trained, walked, hugged, and generally loved over the course of their entire lives.  No small task, right?  

Until now. 

gWhiz has made dog ownership a little easier with its new Dog Basics For Dummies iOS app.  We have teamed up with the experts at John Wiley & Sons, Inc to develop a one-stop shop for dog owners.  By combining vital reference material from the popular For Dummies series with valuable tools such as a scrapbook, reminders, locator, and clicker, we have a created a single resource for all things “dog”.  It’s dog ownership made simple.
 
As questions arise during the course of your pet’s life from puppyhood to adulthood to senior citizenship, Dog Basics For Dummies will be your lifeline.  Users can keep track of important health-related information about their dog as well as details about its daily routine, photos, and more, right on their i-device.  

Need to know when your pooch’s last immunizations were?  Or, heaven forbid, do you need to make an urgent call to your vet?  Pull up this information in seconds with just the touch of a fingertip.  And with the Google-based locator map, users can find the closest dog park, pet store, or veterinarian in a jiffy.  

Just like kids, puppies grow up fast.  With our app, users can record major milestones and photos of their pet using the scrapbook feature.  Pretty neat, eh?  Or maybe you’re busy training your puppy or teaching an old dog new tricks?  The virtual clicker included in this app will certainly come in handy.

Download of the app is FREE as are many of its features including the reminders, locator map and search engine, scrapbook, clicker, and personality profile tool.  Access to the reference material provided by Wiley is available through in-app purchase on the device itself. Downloadable titles include Puppy Basics For Dummies, Dog Training For Dummies, Dog Trick Basics For Dummies, Dog Adoption Basics For Dummies, and Dog Nutrition & Health Basics For Dummies.

Whether you’re new to dog ownership or a seasoned pro, our Dog Basics For Dummies app will have you barking up the right tree in no time.  

Woof.

Thoughts from a Test Prep App Developer

One of the more interesting things about my job as gWhiz's product architect is that I see a lot of test prep content from a variety of different sources.  ASVAB, SAT, GRE, NCLEX-RN, CNOR, MBR, ACT, EMT, LSAT,  and more.  You name it, we've seen it.

Here are a few of my observations:

• People studying to be doctors are flat-out phenomenal.  The width and breadth of things that you need to know to pass the USMLE and MCAT are just incredible.  It's a huge amount of material.


• The high school students taking AP (advanced placement) tests aren't far behind.  I have great admiration for those kids (and their parents) that work so hard on that material - it's really difficult!


• I personally enjoy working on the Cliffs Notes study guides.  While they're not typical Q&A test prep, they've inspired me to read some of the classics.  (I didn't know that Frankenstein's monster was so articulate - I just thought he was green and groaned a lot)


• The publishers we work with are perfectionists (in a good way) and care a great deal about the accuracy and presentation of their content.  Do you know the difference between an em-dash and an n-dash?  They do and now so do I (the em-dash is longer).  We often go thru multiple review cycles to ensure the quality of the Q&A.


• Occasionally, questions and options are kind of funny. There's one in the PrepZilla iPhone screenshot (I think it's part of the McGraw-Hill Lange Internal Medicine set):
  

  Question: What is the golden rule that could be used to broadly define all ethical behaviors with regards to patient treatment?
  
  (Wrong) Answer: Be nice only to the patients who are nice to you.

  That would be the one I'd pick everytime.
  
  Here's another from the Official Guide for GMAT Review grammar review, examples:
  

  Correct: I walk to the store
  Incorrect: I walks to the store.

You gotta laughs at that.

PrepZilla - Serious Fun

Yep.  We did name our new free test prep app, "PrepZilla" and we did put a picture of a funny-looking fire-breathing green monster dude on the front. 

So what's that about?  And, other than the awesome name and mascot, why are we at gWhiz so excited about this app? 

It's because PrepZilla is the first full-fledged educational app for test prep that incorporates asynchronous multi-player gaming combined with the best test prep content from top educational publishers.  It's an effective study aid for hard-working students ("Serious"), but still entertaining ("Fun"). Serious Fun.

Do you see how great this is??  Or did I lose you at "asynchronous multi-player gaming"??

Ok, let's try this:  Have you ever heard of, or played Words With Friends?  Or Draw Something?  They're popular mobile phone/tablet variants of Scrabble and Pictionary, right?  But what makes the apps different and powerful from the board games is that you can play the game Anywhere, with Anyone, at Anytime.  You can be at home or on the bus, you can play someone on the other side of the town, country, or planet, and you can play at whatever time of day or night you have a minute or two to play.

So take that Anywhere, Anyone, Anytime thing, and combine it with gWhiz's best-in-class test prep and now you've got PrepZilla.  PrepZilla uses premium topics from top educational publishers for both self-study and game play.  You can drill on your own, and then challenge your study partners to a game.  You can grab content from leading publishers like McGraw-Hill, Barron's, FLVS, or CCI, and study for AP Biology, Algebra, GRE, CNOR, USMLE, NCLEX and lots more.

Pretty cool, right?  Serious but Fun.  Serious Fun.  PrepZilla. 

Try it out and let us know what you think!

- Mike

Introducing the Newly Improved gFlash+

We just can’t seem to leave well enough alone. Although we know our flagship app, gFlash+, is the best flashcard app on the market today, we have found a way to make it better. Users have always told us that they love the versatility of creating their own card sets using Google Docs or downloading existing sets from our catalog or third party partners. But, now there’s another option. We have made available branded premium content from the nation’s top educational publishers directly through gFlash+. Participating publishers include McGraw-Hill, Kaplan, Wiley Publishing, and Barron’s, among others. It’s the best of both worlds! Users enjoy new, fresh content in our familiar, tried-and-true flashcard format. What could be better?

Our latest version of gFlash+ is only available on iOS but don’t despair. A similar upgrade for Android is in the works and is scheduled for release during the 2nd Quarter, 2012. For all the details, see our latest press release. To find out more about gFlash+ or any of our highly rated educational mobile apps, visit us at www.gwhizmobile.com or through Facebook or Twitter @gwhizmobile.

A look back at 2011...

As the holidays bustle along and the new year approaches, we here at gWhiz would like to thank our loyal customers and partners as well as our family and friends for your continued support. It’s been a busy year! We have accomplished much as we continue to carve out our niche in the mobile educational marketplace. With nearly 150 mobile applications on the market today, we have seen steady growth in both usage and market share.

This growth is due, in no small part, to our focus on perfecting our users’ experience. We are not content to sit back on our laurels but strive to continually improve our products. We are particularly proud of the newest version of our flagship app, gFlash+. Long recognized as the best free flashcard app on the market, gFlash+ offers users a robust, multi-language platform for creating, downloading, and manipulating flashcards in every subject under the sun. In its latest incarnation, gFlash+ offers users more capabilities for free while also offering them configurable upgrades to customize their experience.

As proud as we are of the new gFlash+, we are happy to announce even more exciting developments this year. In May, we released a new comprehensive GMAT review app in partnership with the Graduate Management Admissons Council (GMAC), the owner and administrator of the GMAT exam worldwide. Available for iOS and Android devices, this app offers up to 800 official questions and complete answers and includes performance tracking through GameCenter as well as social media integration.

Another bright spot for us this past year is the new series of LANGE medical apps that we've developed in partnership with McGraw-Hill. Beyond the high-quality subject matter, these apps usher in a new level of mobile test prep sophistication as they allow users to create customized tests by choosing questions from any number of discrete categories, and then measure their progress using our premium analytics. We believe these apps to be among the most advanced mobile test preparation software on the planet. Really! Currently we've released Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Pharmacy, and Psychiatry, with several other titles still on the way.

But wait, there’s more! We’ve built upon our existing relationship with the good folks at Wiley to develop their CliffsNotes series for Classic Literature. With 40 titles available through individual purchase or by in-app purchase with our new container app, CliffsNotes Study Guides, we have left no literary stone unturned. And we’re happy to report that Apple’s iTunes has recently recognized this app as “New and Noteworthy”!

Not interested in the classics? Maybe you’re expecting to receive a Nook or Kindle this holiday season. If that’s the case, you’ll be glad to know that many of our Android apps are now available through BN.com and the Amazon App Store. Just in time for the holidays. :)

Headed Back to School? Take gWhiz With You!

As the lazy days of summer slowly wind down, it’s time to start preparing for the challenges of another school year. Whether you’re a student, parent, or teacher, gWhiz has the tools you need to make this year the best one yet. So as you fold up your beach umbrella and pack away your swim gear, take a moment to consider this. gWhiz has over one hundred educational applications in a myriad of subjects targeting students of all ages. There’s sure to be one that speaks to you.

Are you a student or a parent of a student in the K-12 demographic? Then check out our meStudying apps for Algebra, Reading, and AP topics (e.g., Art History and English Language). These apps will make hitting the books this fall feel more like an adventure than a chore. Still not completely sold? For a limited time, try out one of our meStudying apps on us. That’s right. Free. Just send us an e-mail at marketing@gwhizmobile.com or post a comment on Facebook letting us know why you should receive one of our meStudying apps completely free. That’s it! We’ll send you a promo code for use on your Android or i-device. Easy as pie.

And, as if that weren’t enough, we’re running a promotion on our CliffsNotes apps just in time for back to school season. Planning to tackle the classics this year? Our CliffsNotes apps can start you off on the right foot. With 36 titles currently available and 4 more on the way, we have your bases covered. And starting September 15th, the CliffsNotes Hamlet app will be free for one month.

For more information about our meStudying and CliffsNotes apps, please visit us at www.gwhizmobile.com.