Will Houston be the next Major Hub for Mobile Application Development?

Houston is producing an active iPhone Developer Community that continues to grow. Below are just some of the examples of how Houston’s iPhone Application Developers are working to establish Houston as a major Mobile Applications Development Hub in 2010.

Houston iPhone Application Service Companies:

• ChaiOne (ChaiOne.com)
  • ChaiOne, headed by Gaurav Khandelwal,  has seen a lot of impressive growth and activity in the last year.  They secured a contract to develop iPhone applications for the Hearst Corporation, which owns/includes Chron.com.  They established a new non-profit called the Mobile Application Community to promote application development (see more below).  And they also scooped up two of the more prominent technology evangelists in town in Kelsey Ruger and Marc Nathan to expand their operations.  I expect to see a lot more growth out of ChaiOne in 2010.
• Phodder (Phodder.com)
  • Even though Phodder was founded in College Station, their CTO, Aaron Farnham is based here in Houston.  Phodder has also been very busy in the past year.  Phodder just developed the new iPhone App for CultureMap.  Phodder is also blazing a trail in the corporate iPhone applications arena.

Houston iPhone Application Product Companies

• Free Time Studios
  • FreeTimeStudios.com
  • FreeTime Studios was started by Nathan Eror (co-creator of Natuba) and with the support of Hush Labs, and is focusing on creating games for the iPhone and other mobile platforms like Android/NexusOne, and others.
  • Their first game SlapHappy! is expected to be released some time in the first quarter of 2010.  If you are interested in being a beta tester, contact them here.
• Fore Flight
  • Foreflight.com
  • App:  ForeFlight Mobile (FFM) as an iPhone application for Pilots that offers information on weather, airports, hotels, aircraft registrations, flight plan filing, and more.
• FuzzyLuke
  • FuzzyLuke.com
  • CEO/Developer:  Michael Gile
  • App:  FUZZYLUKE connects your car diagnostic computer directly to the Internet using your iPhone to let you check fuel consumption, run diagnostics, and get other analysis.
• Social Mobility
  • SocialMobility.net
  • CEO/Developer:  Scott Riggins
  • App:  Social Mobility Guardianâ„¢ helps the parents and guardians of young children manage their child’s key locator information.

Houston iPhone Application Developer Events

• iPhone DEV CAMP – HOUSTON
  • Dates:  Jan 30 – 31, 2010
  • Location:  CoffeeGroundz at 2503 Bagby Street
  • Speakers:  Will include a mix of Local and National Speakers.  More To Be Announced Soon.
  • Links:
    • Web Site:  iPhoneDevCampHouston.com
    • Facebook Fan Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages/iPhoneDevCamp-Houston/207773391733
    • Twitter Page:  http://twitter.com/ipdchouston
    • Twitter Hash Tag:  #ipdchouston

Houston iPhone Application Developer Groups and Resources

• Houston iPhone Developer Meetup
  • Link:  http://www.meetup.com/Houston-iPhone-Developers-Meetup/
• Enterprise Mobile Application Community
  • A Non-Profit Umbrella Organization that will serve to fund and promote mobile application development in Houston.
• University of Houston – iPhone Application Development Course
  • Info on the Course led by Dr. Ioannis Pavlidis

Overall I would say that Houston has as much chance as any other city out there to become a leader in the Mobile Applications Development Space  (although I think it will take a lot more of this).   It certainly seems that there are a lot of people coming together to make that happen.  What do you think?   Also, were there any Applications/Companies/Events/Organizations that we missed?  Make sure to list them in the comments for this post!