With 1.6million downloads a day from Nokia’s Ovi Store alone, mobile apps are swiftly becoming the most astute way for retail brands to connect directly with their target audience, wherever they are. And now these brands can develop these all important apps much more rapidly thanks to a service developed by Grapple Mobile.

Using its patented technology, Grapple Mobile has reduced the cost of developing cross platform mobile applications by 75% and brought the length of the process down from months to weeks, without compromising on quality or user experience.

Grapple has spent four years and $9million developing its technology, enabling brands to build an app once and publish across a broad spectrum of devices – around 480 handsets, including iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Nokia, says the company. The app is hosted so it can then be downloaded to any handset via a single link sent to a company’s existing user base, or from any of the major app stores.

“Previously untenable costs and drawn out development times have limited agencies’ and brands’ ability to exploit the major benefit of extended reach from a cross platform mobile application,” says Alistair Crane, Grapple Mobile, CEO. “Grapple removes these barriers, providing the only all encompassing solution for anyone wanting to create an app that can be used by the masses.”

In light of the upcoming elections the Green Party acknowledged the potential of mobile marketing and recently launched an app which assesses how in line the voter is with their core policies and forms an integral part of the party’s broader election campaign. They made use of Grapple’s unrivalled reach and fast-tracked verification and submission process, and the app which took just two weeks to build, is now accessible internationally on all major mobile handsets (including iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Nokia, and Samsung) from the major app stores or via text message.

“We wanted to get Green Party policy into the pockets of the electorate, not just those with high end phones. Grapple’s technology allowed us to do this across all handsets,” says Dom O’Brien, Head of Innovation at agency glue London. “Grapple built the app to a tight budget and schedule and the results are impressive.”

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