Exclusive Interview with Gunter Beer, iPhone App Developer of Yoga2go

Can you tell our readers how your app was originally thought of, what were your thoughts behind the marketplace, specifically?

Since 1993 my books are selling around the world. Now I also publish my work in Apps. They are simply a wonderful evolution of the traditional book. And the platform provides the chance to publish without high financial risks.

Can you tell us how you came up with the colors and themes ideas, design?

Yoga consists of 1% theory and 99% practice and experience. When you see a yoga video, important movements pass to fast. This brought me to the idea to use photo animations to explain the secrets of the most important Asanas. The animations show exactly how and encourage you to practice Yoga outside a studio. Therefore we took all images in beautiful outdoor locations.

Who do you see as the main target market for this app?

With Yoga2go you can practice Yoga in multiple situations: at the hotel, in the park, at the beach, at home, during business travel, on holidays, at the spa, during training classes and more.
 Whenever you feel like doing something good for yourself, powering down, being by yourself or relaxing, you can have Yoga2go available.

How long did it take from the original planning to the production process of your app?

We started developing in October 2008 and was published by the end of October 2009. We took the time to learn to adapt the benefits of the iPhone platform to Yoga2go.

How do you view your sales, is there a good solid market for this style of app?

Yoga2go has reached for several weeks top 2 of the lifestyle category in Germany. Top overall sales in Germany reached rank 39. So yes, a book publisher would be happy to reach thousands of clients in less than half a year.

What has been the hardest obstacle you have had to overcome regarding this app development?

iPhone and iPad Apps need to meet high editorial standards that are at least equal to the standards of good books. That applies to the selection of Asanas as well as the text and media-specific presentation. As I do in the area of books, choosing the best authors absolutely helps having good quality Apps.

Would you consider developing apps for third parties?

The App Store is the chance for me to publish my own projects. As a photographer I was making books for many years for international publishing houses. Now I’m happy to have the chance of publishing my own content.

What have you learnt from the App Store since you launched your app?

Even if you have a good application you need to make it visible to customers. Good promotion is a need if you want to sell.

Have Apple supported you well with your app?

Thanks to Apple Germany Yoga2go was listed as“staff favorites”. This was a real push.

What next, are you developing another app? Would you go for the same genre again, if not which?

I have two passions, cooking and Yoga. Therefore my first apps were “Italian cooking” and “Yoga2go”. I am now preparing Yoga2slim – a yoga-photo-training like Yoga2go that encourage you with hints to keep you in shape.

The Apple iPad – what are your thoughts about it and how do you think your app will integrate?

The iPad is the device for photographers and book lovers. If you have good images in your App you can display them in high res. In the iPad, the difference between“internet content sampler apps”and content created by professional authors is more notable.

I already have two cooking Apps for the iPad.“Italian cooking”ranks since its launch 3 weeks ago in the top 100 of lifestyle in the US App Store and ranks under the first 10 in Germany, Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland and Spain.

Yoga2go is going to be published as universal binary for iPhone and iPad within the next three weeks.