I-SITE’s recipe for success after 50,000 downloads of its educational, not angry, birds app

What does it take to receive more than 50,000 downloads in Apple’s App Store with an education app dedicated to ornithology?

Sometimes, that kind of success is about a firm’s ability to be flexibile when projects don’t go exactly as planned.

Though an original pitch to an educational institution for a bird-watching app didn’t pan out, it gave Old City-based interactive firm I-SITE a chance to show off its iOS and Android development chops and to approach a new partner.

So it is that this summer, I-SITE and Iridescent Learning, a science education nonprofit, launched Build A Bird for iOS and Android, a free game that teaches children about bird science and ecology.

The app — which lets kids “build” flying creatures with a touch of physics for good measure — was even featured in Apple’s App Store, owing to the bump in downloads. The bird angle — considering the success of Angry Birds — surely didn’t hurt traffic.

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