One of the First iPhone Development Software Houses
MooCowMusic has been producing innovative music creation software for the iOS platform since 2008. We were one of the first iPhone Development Software Houses, preceding the App Store by six months with our app, “Pianist”, the first widely-accessible multi-touch keyboard on a mobile device. During that period, our apps were downloaded over a million times and MooCowMusic became one of the biggest third-party developers on the iPhone.
Steve Jobs' Keynote Speech WWDC 2008
The underground success of our early apps attracted the attention of Apple, who were due to unveil their new App Store that would allow developers to distribute iPhone applications to a much wider audience. MooCowMusic appeared onstage during Steve Jobs' WWDC Keynote Speech to demonstrate our “Band” app as an example of the new range of third-party iPhone apps. Although sharing the stage with nine other major companies such as eBay and Sega, MooCowMusic held its own, and out of all the third-party apps received the largest applause.
App Store Success
By the end of the first year of the App Store, MooCowMusic had five apps in the App Store aimed at people at all levels of musical expertise who wanted a mobile musical scratchpad to record ideas, as well as a fun pocket instrument for jamming with friends. The iTunes 'Top Selling Apps for 2008' chart listed Band, Pianist and Guitarist in both the 'Top 10 Paid Music Apps' and in the 'Top 100 Overall Apps'. Organist and Bassist were both in the Top 10 Music Apps list at launch. Both Band and Pianist have been listed at apple.com as staff picks, and all our apps have been 'Featured' in iTunes. Guitarist was shown being purchased in the iPhone 3GS Guided Tour video. Our apps have also been used by Apple to promote all their iOS devices from the iPhone3G to iPad2.
Continuing Success on the iPad
Pianist Pro was available at the launch of the iPad, and was top music app in the US, UK, China, Australia and France. It was made available by Apple as an in-store demo at point of sale for the iPad internationally, and featured in a global TV advertising campaign for the iPad entitled "iPad is Musical", where not only was it the only music app to be shown, but it was used to play the theme music for the advert. It was even used by legendary band Squeeze to perform live on US television.
Media Recognition
MooCowMusic has received some great press over the years. We have been featured in the New York Times on six occasions, USA Today, The Independent, The Mail On Sunday, Fox News, Rolling Stone, T3, Sound on Sound, MacFormat, PC Magazine. We've been featured in the major tech blogs Ars Technica, Gizmodo, and Engadget. Our apps have been recommended by numerous third-party books: The Independent Guide to the iPhone 3G, iPhone App Directory, Best iPhone Apps, Complete Guide to the iPad, iPhone App Guide, Tap! and My iPad. The next edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (a key academic work which has been maintained since the 19th century) will list Pianist and Guitarist as examples of the new group of “Touch Instruments”.
The Future
MooCowMusic has a new iPhone app: Looptical. Moving on from the early days in the App Store of fun, toy instruments, we have produced an app that is aimed at the music professional, and can be used either as an initial mobile stage in song writing or as a complete studio in itself. Mobile apps are beginning to approach their desktop counterparts in terms of functionality, already outclass them in usability, and have a very competitive price structure. We believe that this is the future for professional music software.
...as Preferred by Dogs
Over the years our apps have featured in a number of TV adverts, but by far our favorite was a Japanese iPhone commercial by telecommunications giant Softbank where their much-loved mascot was shown composing a tune using Pianist.
