Quick Pitch: SquareTap is one-stop shop for web-based mobile apps

Already well-acquainted with the App Store? Well, now get to know the TapStore. Seeking to sidestep the hassles of creating native mobile apps for each of the different mobile platforms, SquareTap, also dubbed “the TapStore,” provides a custom home page for a smart phone’s web browser, giving users a customized, central source for their favorite…

Already well-acquainted with the App Store? Well, now get to know the TapStore.

Seeking to sidestep the hassles of creating native mobile apps for each of the different mobile platforms, SquareTap, also dubbed “the TapStore,” provides a custom home page for a smart phone’s web browser, giving users a customized, central source for their favorite mobile apps and a directory of the best mobile destinations from around the web.

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“I think mobile devices are becoming more diverse,” Matthew Nuzum, SquareTap’s creator, said in an email. “The choices are increasing. I think web apps allow app publishers to embrace this variety. There really aren’t too many competitors to SquareTap at this point, but I’m stunned to find that the ones out there target only one or two devices.”

SquareTap is one of seven entries in the Dream Big Des Moines contest, which seeks the top tech-based business ideas in central Iowa. The top vote-getter in an online poll of those seven entries wins a $5,000 prize and a spot in the statewide Dream Big Grow Here contest, which has a $10,000 prize. Votes for Dream Big Des Moines can be submitted until 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday at Dream Big Des Moines’ polling page

Nuzum, who’s based in Ankeny, Iowa, devised the idea for SquareTap because he believes that apps available for mobile devices are struggling to keep pace with the proliferation of smart phones, which he says grow in number by 1 million phones per day.

“The cost and difficulty of making an app for multiple devices is huge,” Nuzum said. “Everyone suffers when consumers can’t get the app that they want because it’s not on their mobile.”

So, Nuzum created SquareTap. By logging in to squaretap.com, users can find a home screen populated by the web-enabled apps of their choice. SquareTap is currently in beta with “hundreds” of apps from which to choose. And if a given app isn’t among SquareTap’s current offerings?

“That’s OK,” Nuzum said. “You can add it. Just type in the address, then choose if you want it to be just for you or if everyone can use it.”

Nuzum said he hopes to hire two part-time employees for SquareTap in the near future — the Dream Big money would help defray those costs, he said — and anticiaptes the release of a non-beta version of SquareTap by late November. 

“There are only a few things that need addressed, so I feel this is very realistic,” he said. “I’m also eager to begin working on the new features that will cater to business users and the APIs that will help developers bring web apps to market faster.”

(Left: SquareTap screenshot, from squaretap.com.)

Note: Silicon Prairie News is a media sponsor of Dream Big Des Moines

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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