Case Studies - Nat Decants

The Client

Natalie MacLean is one of the world's most popular wine experts. She was named the World's Best Drink Writer and her book Red, White and Drunk All Over was recently chosen the Best Wine Literature Book in the English language. Hundreds of thousands of people visit Natalie's website (www.nataliemaclean.com) or subscribe to her newsletter to get her articles, reviews and recipes. Her popular online Food and Wine Matching tool gives specific pairing recommendations for thousands of food dishes and wines.

Simultaneous development of Food and Wine Pairing applications for iPhone, iPod and BlackBerry saves the World's Best Drink Writer 30% in development costs

Project Description:

With requests from many of her devoted followers, Natalie recognized the benefits of offering her Food and Wine Matching tool as a smartphone application for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and other devices. It would allow someone in a restaurant or on-the-go to quickly access Natalie's trusted recommendations for food and wine pairing. With thousands of new iPhone and BlackBerry applications being launched every month, Natalie knew that competition would intensify the longer she delayed the launch of her own application.

As a wine writer with limited technical expertise, Natalie needed a partner she could rely on to lead her through the process and deliver a user-friendly application quickly and on budget. With plans to roll-out the Food and Wine Matcher on both the iPhone and BlackBerry, she needed a team with the ability to design and develop great applications for multiple platforms in the most cost-effective manner possible.

The bitHeads Solution:

Natalie went straight to bitHeads for help. "I was strongly advised by people I trusted to talk to bitHeads," says Natalie, "As soon as I met bitHeads, I understood their reputation as an easy-to-work-with partner who consistently creates amazing applications." The initial project included the creation of Nat Decants Drink Matcher applications for the iPhone, iPod Touch and BlackBerry devices. bitHeads quickly assigned a team of their mobile application experts to create an overall architecture and designs for the multiple platforms that provide the best user experience while enabling bitHeads' developers to create the applications as efficiently as possible.

Results:

Nat Decants Drink Matcher mobile applications were simultaneously launched on the iPhone App Store and BlackBerry App World on time and budget to rave reviews. Within two weeks of launch, Drink Matcher became the most popular paid wine pairing application in the App Store. "I felt I was in great hands with bitHeads," adds Natalie. "They painlessly led me through the process and delivered beautiful mobile applications on the timeline and budget they had promised. With their expertise on both the iPhone and BlackBerry platforms and by creating both versions of my application simultaneously, bitHeads saved me over 30% in development costs. Partnering with bitHeads is a no brainer."
The Nat Decants Drinks Matcher can be downloaded from the online stores for iPhone or BlackBerry.

For Apple’s iPhone App Store, visit:
www.apple.com/iphone/appstore

For the BlackBerry App World, visit:
na.BlackBerry.com/eng/services/appworld

For a quick video demo on how the app works, visit:
www.nataliemaclean.com/mobilematch