Our thoughts on the iPad

Since Steve Jobs showed the world his company’s latest creation, the surprisingly controversial iPad tablet device, the Internet has been flooded with a wealth of opinions on its features – both those included and omitted by Apple.  Vaya Broqui, being one of the better known iPhone development teams in Puerto Rico, was asked by the island’s leading newspaper, El Nuevo Día (link to original article, in Spanish), to share its initial reactions on the iPad.  Both Pablo and I weighed in on the device, as well as our friend and fellow developer Hector Ramos (check out Hector’s blog for more of his thoughts on the iPad).

The Bottom line: as developers we are excited about Apple’s new device and the possibilities for mobile computing it might open – especially for casual users and professionals – even though we would have liked if other features had been included from the get-go.

Here’s a transcript of the complete article (in Spanish):

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Vaya Broqui & Parranda App make Billboard Magazine!

Click on the image above to read the entire article, “Application And Acceleration: Latin Labels Prepare to Dive into the Mobile App Pool” by Ayala Ben-Yehuda, and be sure to pick up the January 23, 2010 issue of Billboard!

Celebrate Three King’s Day with Vaya Broqui: Parranda Cuatro FREE TODAY!

Three King’s Day, also known as the Epiphany, is an important part of the Puerto Rican Christmas holiday celebration.  Children wake up early today to once again open their gifts (only twelve days after Christmas – sweet!) and families get together to celebrate with traditional food and music.  Last year we made Parranda, our first iPhone and iPod touch application, available as a free download as part of the Three King’s Day celebration.

To help keep this tradition alive, Vaya Broqui’s new application, Parranda Cuatro, will be available as a free download today – January 6th, 2010.

Head over to iTunes or the App Store to download your free copy of Parranda Cuatro – and be sure to check out our other apps while you are there too!

[iTunes link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/vaya-broqui/id297296717]

Press: Parranda Plena Libre in El Nuevo Día (12/28/2009)

Parranda: Plena Libre grabs headlines in El Nuevo Día (December 28, 2009)

Aguinaldos Navideños

Here are a few classic ‘aguinaldos navideños’ from Puerto Rico (some of them abridged) for you and your family to enjoy during the holidays!  These work great for singing along to the rhythms you’ll find in our ‘Parranda’ applications for the iPhone and iPod touch.  You can find many more in El Boricua website as well as in this dedicated YouTube channel, which includes many recorded versions of Puerto Rico’s festive and contagious alternatives to caroling.  Click the link below to enjoy a selection of traditional Puerto Rican holiday songs!
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Parranda App Influences Mobile Advertising?

As we prepared to release the ‘Parranda’ application late last year, we never thought that twelve months later we would have expanded our product line to three unique ‘Parranda’-branded musical apps, with our Parranda Cuatro and Parranda Plena Libre applications.  Even less did we expect cellphone companies to have embraced our concept as THE seasonal approach to marketing advanced mobile phones this Christmas season.

It’s not like Puerto Rico’s rich culture and musical traditions haven’t been exploited before for marketing purposes – but after AT & T in Puerto Rico decided to do some product integrations showing off the iPhone with our original ‘Parranda’ app (for which we are grateful) in the top rated local television shows last year, a full-page story in the business section of the island’s leading newspaper, and over 10,000 downloads,  its hard not to look at some of this year’s cellphone ad campaigns for the Holidays and not wonder if our application influenced some of the marketing decisions made.

Here are some images taken from an AT & T promotional brochure and a CLARO storefront in Plaza Las Américas Shopping Center.  I also ran into a Sprint promotional shopper in El Nuevo Día newspaper a few weeks ago which I would have included but alas, I can’t find it.  Until we port ‘Parranda’ to other phones and operating systems, the only phone you can play with our apps is Apple’s iPhone (and the iPod touch of course – a much cheaper way to enjoy the myriad of applications available from iTunes).  This makes some of the advertising images below a bit misleading if not entirely disingenuous.  Take a look and decide for yourselves:

AT&T opted for some confusing images. They know which phone plays 'Parranda' and its not any of these.

Claro, once thought to be bringing the iPhone to our shores, plays the tradition angle as well.

Have you spotted any other cellphone advertising examples out in the wild that you think might have been inspired by ‘Parranda’? Share them with us by writing to info@vayabroqui.com!

Traen el sabor de Puerto Rico al iPhone

VAYA BROQUI DESARROLLA APLICACIONES QUE PRESERVAN NUESTRA TRADICIÓN MUSICAL

SAN JUAN, PR / 25 de diciembre de 2009 – Vaya Broqui, el equipo de desarrolladores que debutó las Navidades pasadas con ‘Parranda’, su primera aplicación para el iPhone y iPod touch, han lanzado toda una familia de aplicaciones nuevas para la temporada que mantienen nuestra tradición musical vigente a través de lo último en la tecnología. Estas Navidades se unieron a la ‘Parranda’ original, las nuevas aplicaciones ‘Parranda Cuatro’ y ‘Parranda Plena Libre’, las cuales permiten que sus usuarios se diviertan tocando versiones virtuales de nuestros instrumentos tradicionales, descargando así ritmos, melodías y sonidos típicos de las mejores fiestas en Puerto Rico.

“En Puerto Rico tenemos reputación de que nos gusta la fiesta y se sabe alrededor del mundo que gozamos de una de las temporadas navideñas más extensas y cargadas. No paramos hasta que pasen Las Octavitas y Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián,” comentó Alfredo Richner, diseñadores y co-fundador de Vaya Broqui.  “Pero quizás no se conoce tanto nuestra rica tradición musical, que es lo que buscamos promover y conservar a través de este medio innovador, divertido y de alcance mundial.  Estamos llevando parte de Puerto Rico a equipos móviles de manera a que en otros países – y hasta nuestros propios puertorriqueños expatriados – puedan disfrutar de nuestro calor y espíritu musical.”

La primera aplicación del equipo logró alcanzar la séptima posición en la lista de aplicaciones musicales más vendidas en iTunes durante la pasada temporada Navideña y se ha descargado sobre 10,000 veces.  Este año, además de añadir ritmos e instrumentación adicional a ‘Parranda,’ el equipo se dio a la tarea de expandir su idea original, resultando así en dos nuevas aplicaciones: ‘Parranda Cuatro’ y ‘Parranda Plena Libre’.  “Ya que nos habíamos concentrado en la parte rítmica con nuestro primer producto, decidimos diseñar un cuatro puertorriqueño que sirviera como su complemento melódico,” añadió la otra mitad del equipo, Pablo López.  “Parranda Plena Libre, por otra parte, te permite tocar lo mejor de la música puertorriqueña junto a la orquesta elite de bomba y plena de Puerto Rico, reconocida alrededor del mundo por sus 13 producciones musicales y cuatro nominaciones al Grammy.”

LA FIESTA NO HA TERMINADO

Estos desarrollos por parte de Vaya Broqui demuestran que la ‘Parranda’ ha llegado al mundo móvil y digital para quedarse.  ¡Con la despedida del año, el Día de Reyes, las Octavitas y San Sebastián – aún queda mucho tiempo para gozar!  Todos las aplicaciones están disponibles para descargar inmediatamente ya sea través del App Store desde su iPhone o iPod touch o a través de la tienda iTunes en su computadora a un costo de $2.99 cada una.

Links directos hacia las aplicaciones en iTunes:

Parranda – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda/id297296714?mt=8

Parranda Cuatro – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda-cuatro/id341645522?mt=8

Parranda Plena Libre – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda-plena-libre/id345238996?mt=8

Developers bring Latin flavor to Holidays with Parranda iPhone apps

Vaya Broqui, an iPhone developer team hailing from the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico, have created a family of music applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch devices that allow anyone to celebrate the Holidays in their country’s characteristic mix of merriment and tradition.  Parranda, Parranda Cuatro, and Parranda Plena Libre allow you to play several traditional instruments and fire away party hollers and cheers over a collection of festive Latin rhythms – bringing true Caribbean flair to any celebration.

“Puerto Rico is well-known for its world-class Christmas celebration: the island starts getting ready early in December for Christmas Day, but things really pick up right after with New Year’s, Three King’s Day, what we call ‘Las Octavitas’, and all the way up to the third week of January with the traditional festivities of San Sebastián Street in Old San Juan,” says Alfredo Richner, half of Vaya Broqui’s development team.  “We wanted to distill part of that unique Holiday spirit and bottled it up in fun and simple apps that the whole world could enjoy.”

Debuting late last year with the original Parranda application – big in Puerto Rico and a modest hit in iTunes with over 10,000 downloads to date – the team decided to expand on their original idea by developing additional applications that could complement each other and create a richer user experience at party settings.  “While we concentrated on rhythmic instruments in the original Parranda, we developed Parranda Cuatro – a virtual guitar-like instrument based on the ‘cuatro puertorriqueño – as its melodic counterpart,” added team member Pablo López.  “Parranda Plena Libre, meanwhile, allows you to jam with Puerto Rico’s elite ‘bomba y plena’ orchestra and four-time Grammy award nominees, Plena Libre.”

Vaya Broqui’s applications are guaranteed to provide an instant jolt to your Holiday celebrations (the team recommends playing them through external speakers for the full experience).  All three are currently available for purchase through iTunes and the App Store at $2.99 each.

Direct links to apps in iTunes:

Parranda – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda/id297296714?mt=8

Parranda Cuatro – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda-cuatro/id341645522?mt=8

Parranda Plena Libre – http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/parranda-plena-libre/id345238996?mt=8

Available Now: Parranda Plena Libre for iPhone and iPod touch!

*** Take your Parranda to the next level with one of Puerto Rico’s elite latin orchestras – Plena Libre! ***

AVAILABLE NOW FROM THE ITUNES APP STORE FOR IPHONE AND IPOD TOUCH

Founded in San Juan by bass player/composer Gary Núñez, Plena Libre is well into a 15-year voyage has seen the orchestra re-invent the sound of Puerto Rico’s plena and bomba traditions. The group has recorded 13 stellar albums and garnered four Grammy nominations. Now you can bring Gary and Plena Libre along to ANY party with Parranda: Plena Libre!

This new addition to the hit Parranda application family by Vaya Broqui allows you to perform like a master musician and seasoned pro in front of your family and friends using a repertoire of original music and sounds recorded by Plena Libre. The application also includes a deluxe four-instrument kit with special all-star pro sound play areas, making it our most most fun and polished kit yet.

Parranda: Plena Libre is the perfect soundtrack to Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, Three Kings Day, Las Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián, Trullas, Asaltos Navideños, Parades, Birthdays, Weddings, Family Gatherings, and any party looking for some flavor!

Parranda: Plena Libre includes 4 deluxe instruments, 5 original expert rhythms composed and recorded by Plena Libre, and a collection of ‘jolgorio’ party hollers created by the band to help you keep your own Parranda going ’til the break of dawn. Read the rest of this entry »

Available Now: Parranda Cuatro for iPhone and iPod touch!

*** Celebrate the Holidays with the best companion app to Parranda! ***

AVAILABLE NOW FROM THE ITUNES APP STORE FOR IPHONE AND IPOD TOUCH

Discover the sounds of the traditional Cuatro Puertorriqueño with Parranda Cuatro. While the original Parranda application delivered on authentic rhythmic Puerto Rican fun – Parranda Cuatro runs away with the melody. This member of the guitar family of string instruments, popular throughout Latin America, is typically used as accompaniment to popular songs. This particular variant from Puerto Rico has ten metallic strings that are organized in pairs and tuned in ascending order.

Parranda Cuatro allows you to play your own melodies using ‘Free Play’ mode or enjoy some of the great examples of traditional Puerto Rican melodies, including La Borinqueña, Seis Mapeye, and the Aguinaldo Isabelino. The app also includes authentic jíbaro sounds, güiro accompaniments specific to each melody, and bonus palitos (or clave) sounds – just shake your device!

Puerto Ricans are notorious throughout the world for knowing how to truly celebrate and throw a great party. Now you can be the life of ANY party with Parranda and its new companion app, Parranda Cuatro! Parranda Cuatro’s repertoire of authentic music and sounds from Puerto Rico provide the perfect soundtrack to Christmas and New Year’s celebrations, Three Kings Day, Trullas, Asaltos Navideños, and Family Gatherings. Read the rest of this entry »