Several keys running on mobile devices were developed by
the KeyToNature project. Most of them are freely downoadable online.
The rapid spread of smartphones has opened up new opportunities in the
production and distribution of multimedia applications for the educational
sector, including interactive keys to identify organisms. This market is new,
still partly unexplored and changing fast. The Department of Life Sciences
of the University of Trieste and Divulgando Srl, have tested its potential by
uploading in the iTunes Store different types of keys for the iPhone, some
of them for free, others for sale. This paper introduces the issue of global
market applications, summarizes the experience gained in our case-studies,
and suggests ways to make these applications economically viable.
