Confronted by a technological revolution that has seen parents and their children trade paperbacks and flash cards for e-books and apps, Stew Leonard Jr. knew it was time to go digital.
Leonard, president and CEO of the Norwalk grocery store chain that shares his name, and his wife, Kim, founded Stew Leonard III Children”™s Charities in 1990 following the drowning of their 21-month-old son.
Through two popular children”™s books and other outreach efforts, the foundation has raised more than $1 million to promote water safety and awareness.
Leonard said he approached The Allen Group, a Norwalk-based Web and mobile technology development firm, last winter to inquire about creating a digital version of the foundation”™s education book, “Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim.”
“We went down there and just said, ”˜We want to do an app,”™” said Leonard. “I had no idea what we wanted to do, but they made it easy for us, and meanwhile I think we”™re sitting here close to 13,000 downloads” since the mobile app was released April 4.
Before January 2010, there was no such thing as an iPad, but now, “We”™re so mobile and we”™re so dependent on all of these devices that it becomes second nature,” said Eugene Allen, president of The Allen Group, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year.
Founded in 1997 as a technology servicer working in networks and other computer systems, Allen said the firm was forced to switch its business model overnight as the demand among companies seeking an Internet presence took off in the late 1990s.
After working in the web development field for the better part of a decade, The Allen Group expanded its service offerings to include mobile app development four years ago.
Today, that sector of the company accounts for more than 50 percent of The Allen Group”™s business, Allen said.
“For the past couple of years, the mobile development area was what added to our client base, our revenues,” Allen said. “Today, there is more mobile work and there”™s going to be even more, because everybody ”“ from one person on his own to big companies ”“ has some sort of mobile development need.”
With the fast pace at which new devices and platforms are unveiled, “There”™s no time to rest,” Allen said, pointing to the Oct. 23 release of the new iPad Mini. “When we develop these apps, we have to keep a keen eye on what”™s coming next.”
The ascent of mobile technologies has been dramatic, to say the least, Allen said.
In the two and a half years since the original iPad went on sale, Apple Inc. has sold more than 100 million of the devices, the company said at its Oct. 23 event in San Jose, Calif., adding that more than 35 billion apps have been downloaded from the App Store to date, resulting in $6.5 billion for developers.
The Allen Group has been contracted to develop mobile apps by companies in the sales, health care, pharmaceutical, finance, retail, manufacturing, industrial, consumer products and publishing industries, among others, Allen said.
While the costs vary from client to client, Allen said the Norwalk firm has worked with a wide range of companies, from startups to those represented among the Fortune 500.
Allen attributed the company”™s success to its in-house technical and customer support staff.
“One thing that kept us in business is the fact that we are a little different than the guy on his own in his basement,” Allen said. “We give very, very good customer support. We are here, answer the phones. We have expertise in-house.”
He said the company develops many of its clients”™ apps out of its Norwalk office, with additional freelance developers on call to assist with projects on an as-needed basis.
