Announcing Allify

Today, I'm excited to announce a project I've been working on that's a joint-venture by the iconic NYC-based incubator Betaworks, and the hot upstart NYC-based product firm Prehype.

The project is Allify: an iPhone application developer/publisher alliance for the joint promotion of each other's applications.

The problem: right now, the only way to get distribution for your application is to pay out the nose on an existing ad network, get "TechCrunched," or to call in a favor at Apple (presuming you know someone there) and get featured on the iTunes homepage.

For the rest of us (and for many in the above categories), when we release an application -- something we've spent endless hours on -- we are left hoping to grow organically, and all too often that means slowly and at a decaying rate after launch. If we do get press, there's no way to bottle up that burst of attention and keep the downloads rolling in past people's latest RSS refresh. Finally, if we do have an existing application doing well, there's no way to confer our current success to our next product. In short, getting distribution is a pain, and someone needs to fix it.

Enter Allify. As a allied member of Allify, you add an ad unit to your iPhone application -- on whatever screens you choose -- and build up Allify credits for every ad you display. In return for these impressions, you earn impressions for your application across the network, to be spent whenever you wish (now, at your next release, with your next product), for free.

With Allify, we're finally trying to open up massive distribution opportunities to everyone with a great app and big aspirations.

If you have or are building an iPhone app, head to Allify.com and sign up, and if you have any questions about the project, feel free to contact me. Meanwhile, check out this fun video

PS: To get updates on the project, follow us on Twitter at @AllifyApps