Colm is ainm dom

Dublin Bikes App

Shocking news today from Fusio. They’ve been forced to pull their frankly amazing DublinBikes app from the App Store. The app itself was designed by Fusio as a vehicle to promote their iPhone app development service. And boy how it did it. A simple, free app which did exactly what it said on the tin. Unencumbered by pointless extra features, it was the definition of ease of use.

The App's Splash Screen

The reason behind the pull was a cease & desist letter from the company which operate the DublinBikes scheme on behalf of Dublin City Council, JCDecaux.

Now, in case you didn’t know, JCDecaux aren’t some kind of bike company by trade. They sell outdoor advertising space – billboards, the information pillars at Luas stops, that kind of thing. In 2006, they entered into a contract with the Council whereby the council would allow JCDecaux to erect 170 of these ad panels all over the city and in return, they would provide the DublinBikes scheme (consisting of 450 bikes). The contract has since been revised down to 120 panels (of which only 72 have been erected). I haven’t studied the contract in any great detail, but I always feel like DCC got screwed over in this deal. Not least because the ad panels were built quickfast and the bikes only arrived last week.

The Main Screen of the App

But, back on topic, the iPhone App. Having sought and received permission to build the app from all the relevant stakeholders, JCDecaux have now done a u-turn and gone legal on Fusio. The only logical reason I can think of is that either -

• JCDecaux didn’t realise how popular the app was going to be – It had 3,000 odd downloads when it was pulled – and have now realised there’s money to be made from it. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we see an ‘official’ DublinBikes app in the next few weeks that will be (a) ad-supported (b) not-free (79c or so) or (c) both ads and a download charge.
• The other option is that JCDecaux are planning to build a similar app for every city they have bikes in, but weren’t sure of the demand, so used Fusio (without their knowledge) to test the waters and now that it’s been a success, they’re going to roll out their app worldwide.

Either way, it’s a major faux pas from a company that should really know better.