Translate your mobile app for global markets
Like many other entepreneurial ideas, MediSafe Project was born of a personal passion. After their diabetic father was hospitalized following an accidental double-dose of insulin, the co-founders saw a need for a mobile application that could help patients manage medications more efficiently. When they dug into the numbers, they discovered that every 19 minutes, an American dies because of what's called "medication non-adherence."
But this is also a universal problem, and the MediSafe team quickly realized this was an app that would also work outside the United States. Within a month, they found themselves translating the app into French, after a company requested a version for that market, relates MediSafe CEO Omir "Bob" Shor. Because being bi-lingual or tri-lingual wasn't exactly a core strength of this rather small startup, it turned to One Hour Translation, a professional translation service that focuses on helping businesses prepare products for international markets.
"We were able to substantially increase our base by investing a relatively low amount of money, Shor said.
As of late October 2013, the MediSafe app is available in 12 languages including English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, German, Italian, Danish, French, Hebrew, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese. The company picked the languages based on interest and customer relationships in those markets, Shor said.
One Hour Translation isn't just a machine-based translation service: it represents more than 15,000 professional translators, who are certified in more than 75 languages. As the name suggests, the turnaround for small projects is quick, while bigger ones could take several days.
Ofer Shoshan, CEO of the company, said that given that many mobile phone and smartphone users live outside of the United States, translating mobile apps into different languages is a very simple strategy to support. Right now, almost 80 percent of this company's revenue comes from online companies and e-commerce businesses that need to accomodate different markets around the world. "We call this localization, and not just translation," he said.
Some of One Hour Translation's customers include global payments company Payoneer, e-commerce companies BlueSnap and Under.me, mobile apps developer The ZAP Group, and MapAtlas.org. The company doesn't publish its pricing, but you can get an instant quote and estimate of how long your project will take.
One Hour Translation is far from the only service that does this. Here are three other sites to check out as well:
TransPerfect - Around for more than 20 years, this company handles more than 50,000 projects on an annual basis.
Ackuna - A "free" translation service specifically focused on mobile apps that is staffed by more than 20,000 volunteers fluent in 20 languages.
Moravia - A "globalization" solution provider based in Eastern Europe that works with "five of the eight top Fortune 1000 computer software companies."
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