Cars.com app, built by PointAbout, currently #1 in iTunes Lifestyle

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PointAbout built the official iPhone app for the hugely popular Cars.com company out of Chicago, and we were just notified by this post by Jim Hopkinson, the official marketing guru for WIRED magazine, that it has reached #1 in the iTunes Store for free lifestyle apps, as well as being #3 in “what’s hot”.  You can download the app from iTunes here.  Here’s the screenshot:

PointAbout’s AppMakr Featured in Fed Tech Bisnow

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PointAbout’s AppMakr service was featured today by Fed Tech Bisnow in a post titled “Innovation Hotspot.”

Cars.com, Created by PointAbout, Launches with Super Bowl Ad

PointAbout created the Cars.com app, which was launched on Sunday by Cars.com with a Super Bowl ad.  MobileMarketer reports that the ad generated 6,500 downloads immediately after the ad aired.

MobileMarketer goes on to state, “Cars.com tapped PointAbout to create the application for the iPhone and iPod touch as a complement to its mobile Web site, which was created by Crisp Wireless. General Motors, Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Ford have all bought display advertising on the mobile site for 2010.”

MobileMarketer continues, “We wanted to be available to all consumers, so we have to be device- and carrier-agnostic, so that if you have a mobile device, you can access all of the tools and the 2 million-plus listings on Cars.com using your handset,” said Sharon Knitter, senior director of consumer products at Cars.com, Chicago.

“About 30 percent of our mobile content is coming from the iPhone, and we have folks that have an iPhone that look at our mobile site, but we wanted to also give them the opportunity to download an app,” she said. “We decided to start with a mobile Web site and add on device-specific apps as the market warrants—Android and BlackBerrry are on our radar.

“Mobile will continue to evolve, and we’ll continue to assess the layout of the marketplace, watch market share and adapt accordingly.”

Here is the SuperBowl Cars.com ad, which includes the app (although the ad used a generic phone for licensing purposes):

PointAbout Founders Interviewed by George Washington University

Michelle, Dan and Chito, MBA Students from George Washington University, came over to PointAbout’s offices to interview the four co-founders.  The resulting 54 minute interview is below.

PointAbout Named in Top 100 Private Companies To Watch in 2010 list by OnMedia Conference

PointAbout was recently named one of the Top 100 private companies in the world to watch in 2010 by the OnMedia conference. We didn’t realize what an honor this was until we saw some of the stats: The average Top 100 winner has been in business for 4 years and raised $14MM in venture funding. PointAbout is only 18 months old and we’re completely self-funded.

The keynote speaker at the event was Mark Cuban. He encouraged the audience to take a chance with their content: Try keeping it out of the aggregator’s robots and see if you can monetize it. Here’s the full keynote and part of the panel:

PointAbout Featured in Disruptathon Video

This video was created by Jeffrey Fitzgerald.

“Find Your Fix” app, built by PointAbout for Hitfix & Featured by G4

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The HitFix “Find Your Fix” iPhone app was reviewed & featured on G4 yesterday. They said it was “a godsend for entertainment junkies… one of the app store’s hidden gems.”

PointAbout client featured on CNN

AreYouSafe Atlanta, a PointAbout client, was featured today on CNN in a story titled, “Cities embrace mobile apps, ‘Gov 2.0‘”  The article states, “Are You Safe” uses a person’s GPS location and municipal crime data to tell residents of Atlanta, Georgia, about the crime history in their immediate vicinity.

These sorts of apps tend to pop up only in places where the municipal government has released its data sets in a format that can be easily crunched. That public data is the fuel that makes these applications work.”

PointAbout Wins “Perfect Score” award from DC Disruptathon

PointAbout was awarded today the “Perfect Score” award by Disruptathon, for having the highest number of “5 out of 5″ scores by the Disruptathon audience.

PointAbout competed against nine other mobile innovators in the Washington, DC area, and the audience scored all the presentations on their handheld devices.  PointAbout presented its AppMakr.com service at the event.

More about Disruptathon: “Disruptathon is a cultural innovation event set in either a public or private forum that seeks to discover the brightest new ideas and the people behind them in an interactive and democratic forum. Our public events are accessible to any level of innovator from the independent developer or inventor to major companies. Disruptathon is a supportive, informative and fun event for all involved.”

The next Disruptathon event is on January 20th, 2010 at Teqcorner in McLean, VA.

PointAbout Presents AppMakr at Apple Store

PointAbout was invited today to present AppMakr at the Apple Store in Clarendon.  PointAbout CEO Scott Suhy gave a presentation of AppMakr (available below).  AppMakr is PointAbout’s service that allows anyone to create an app from content already being published to the Web, such as RSS feeds.  MinOnline Magazine raved about AtlanticWire, an app created by AppMakr, saying “the mobile version of TheAtlanticWire is even better than the Web site.”

Watch a video of PointAbout CEO Scott Suhy’s Presentation:

The Presentation:
PointAbout presentation at the Apple Store
More pictures from the event:

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