Over the holiday weekend, reports came pouring into the ATL inbox about the most expensive iPhone app currently on the market. It costs $1,000 and is aimed at legal types, specifically those who want to be lawyers in California. From PCWorld:
BarMax: California Edition, available now in the iPhone’s App Store for $999.99, is a study guide for the California Bar Exam. Harvard lawyers oversaw development of the app, which weighs in at 1 GB and includes outlines, lectures, a study calendar, and real questions and essays from previous exams. The only comparable app available now is from BarBri, but you must be enrolled in the company’s $3000 to $4000 classes to use most of the features.
According to TechCrunch, the man behind the app is Mike Ghaffary, a JD/MBA ‘06 Harvard grad. Ghaffary was just recently admitted to the California bar himself, in December 2009.
He says he came up with the BarMax app idea while studying…
From TechCrunch:
Mike Ghaffary came up with the idea when he himself was preparing for the bar exam. He could not believe BarBri charged the $4,000 to send him an iPod with audio notes on it, and that there was no real competition in the space. So he got in touch with some successful iPhone app developers in Los Angeles, as well as some fellow Harvard Law graduates to create the app. Ghaffary, who is the director of business development at TrialPay by day, is serving as an advisor now to the team.
The application is only useful for Californian JDs with iPhones for now, but the company is planning to roll out expensive-yet-cheap-by-comparison-to-BarBri aids for those in New York, and the five other most popular states by the end of 2010. Sorry, North Dakotans.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Mike Ghaffary summered at Orrick way back in 2003, but has since utilized his MBA more than his JD, working in business development at a series of Internet companies.
Is he business savvy? How many of you would opt for the $1,000 iPhone app rather than paying multiple gs for BarBri?
$1000 iPhone App Returns with BarMax [PCWorld]
BarMax: The $1,000 iPhone App That Might Actually Be Worth It [Techcrunch]
I am firsty, EVER SO FIRSTY :)
ugh. second.
Anyone have comments on Pieper for NY bar review?
I was hoping someone would make a bar exam app, but I wouldn’t pay $1000 for it. It should be a supplemental program, like how it’s offered by BarBri. I can’t imagine always using an iphone to study for the bar. It’s better than using flashcards and a nice app to use while sitting in a subway or waiting in line, but it would suck as the sole barbri tool.
My firm pays for my bar fees, plus gives me $15k as a stipend while studying, plus $3.5 for moving expenses, plus I can start working any Monday after the bar. This story is silly.
My firm did not pay for my bar review course, and I have neither an iPhone nor a Blackberry. Of course, when I took my bar exam there was no such thing as an iPhone or a Blackberry, so that’s not surpising.
PE’s firm hired a tutor for him, and the tutor trained PE using the abacus.
$200 on used barbri books ftw!
Well positioned to dominate of the new apple tablet pc runs apps (which it is predicted to).
I would be worried about content – barbri has some excellent pros putting their materials together. Expensive? Yes. Really good? Yes. Either this guy is going to get sued for copyright infringement by barbri or someone else, or his content stinks. Which is it?
He should have charged 300 for first two years, so people would buy as an addtional aid. Once their content has cred, then they can raise price and market as a single solution to bar needs.
Why are law students so pathetic?
ummm…previous exams are available on the calbar.org website.
Also, go to amazon or a used bookstore and you can get the books for really cheap. I highly recommend the Adachi two-volume essay books.
You can probably download outlines online and store them to your smartphone.
I suppose this is a good deal for the people who dont have time to research.
It’s thrilling to see the iPhone App Law segment skyrocket. Mr. Ghaffery’s App is genius and adds immense value. When considering the alternative, the price point is extremely reasonable. Direct and indirect revenues from mobile applications are expected to exceed $25bn by 2014. I believe the dominant revenue stream for the law apps segment will derive from providing value-added membership services that readers won’t hesitate to purchase IMHO.
Full disclosure–my firm launched its own iPhone App last week catering to the international business community. It’s a mobile version of the International Business Law Advisor blog. It’s yet another addition to the growing number of law-related Apps. http://tiny.cc/Hi61r
While our App launch was a big success, it looks like Mr. Ghafferty has hit on something extraordinary.
This app is useless. If your firm pays for Barbri, take Barbri. If your firm doesn’t pay (and you don’t want to pay out of pocket), ask somone you know who graduated the year before you (and took the same bar you’re planning to take) if you can have their old Barbri books. Print the Barbri schedule off their website and follow along as if you were taking the class. Problem solved. I know two kids who did this in preparation for the July ‘09 bar and passed. They were below-average students.
anyone who has half a brain will just crack their iphone and download this app for free.
Want to listen to some heavy duty rock and roll while studying for the bar exam? There’s a Tap for that.
Lol @ 12. Only thing genius about it is that they overchrged so much that they made news headlines and got tons of free press. If they are smart they will announce the $500 price cut next week. Genius? Lol. If you said “courageous” or “brave” I might have agreed. Genius … Ehhhhh no. We save genius claims until a) someone buys it, and b) the buyer can vouch that a 2006 harvard grad and his buddies can throw together a bar prep program worth $1000 that doesn’t violate barbri copyrights.
Wait, what does this have to do with gays?
Simultanous comment
I rather not do all my studying on a 4 inch screen.
You need an option for “No I would pay a few hundred for used books from last year.”
12 is a douchetardo troll.
@5…..did your law firm give you that dbag personality? A lot of us got similar benefits, but only a tool 3L brags about it.
This has nothing to do with why Italians are so greasy and unintelligent.
News at Paul Weiss.
Well put 19 and I agree. However, I give the guy credit for actually creating something instead of pushing paper all day and bitching about it….
BREAKING: Paul Weiss is a toilet.
BREAKING: Paul Weiss is a toilet into which the worthless turds of major law schools fall every year.
Why do Black women always yell on the subway?
Mike Ghaffary isn’t the only lawyer to see a unique business opportunity in bar exam prep. Lawyer Caryn Pincus invented a board game called Passing the Bar, which tests material covered on the multistate portion of the bar exam. You can also get a supplemental set of flashcards with 450 actual questions from past bar exams that have been released by the National Conference of Bar Examiners. Both items are available from The Billable Hour Company (game: http://thebillablehour.com/passingthebar.php; flashcards: http://thebillablehour.com/passingthebarflashcard.php).
While Passing the Bar might not be as portable or high-tech as Barmax, it’s a lot less expensive ($69.95 for the game, $59.95 for the flashcards and a discount if you buy the two together). Plus, since it tests multistate material, it’s of potential interest to law grads from around the country.
Ghaffary looks like he’d blow ten guys for a nickel.
i still find it amazing that after plunking down as much as 135K+ in tuition alone a legal education (even at a T14 school) does not even remotely prepare you for the specifics of taking the bar exam.
this post is quickly becoming ad space for bar-related products. cut it out!
Why is he pointing to the Mitchell Brothers’ theater?
The used barbri books I got for free were perfectly adequate.
This is a play that goes beyond the iphone. It might take them a few years, but when tablet devices become more common, this app will work perfectly.
Kevin Thompson
http://www.theadvocategroup.net
“Harvard lawyers” = Elie?
Yes, I want to pay for a 1k bar review written by a bunch of MysTTTals.
(read: do not want)
Save your money. The Cal bar is just not that freaking hard. (Lawyer who have passed like to think it is, but it’s not.)
Why would I want to use Bar materials from a guy who just got the idea last June? He either didn’t take enough time or he ripped off someone else.
Just look at the books like a real student.
So let me see if I have this straight. The guy graduated Harvard in 2006 and was not admitted to the bar until 2009? Yeah that is EXACTLY the person I want preparing me for the bar.
anyone know when I’m going to see settlement money from the barbri classaction?
anyone know when I’m going to see settlement money from the barbri classaction?
This thing better have a ridiculous copy protection scheme. Most people don’t copy iphone apps for the same reason criminals don’t counterfeit $1 bills.
With this app you could buy a top of the line ipod touch (iphone minus the phone part), hack/jailbreak it for free, pirate the app, and come home with a tidy “profit” … then sell the whole kit at an enormous discount.
Good luck — to this guy and everyone else late to the “app” party.
This guy was insufferable at HLS. You won’t find a person from his class who would disagree.
3:35,
if you thought he was insufferable then, you should have seen him in high school.
MVHS ‘98
shut up 43, you are a joke. the fact that people in his class (i assume you mean section) found him ‘insufferable’ tells me that he is probably a relatively normal guy. the strange dynamic that develops in an HLS section is both gross and embarrassing.
HLS 3L
3: Pieper is a great lecturer, and he prepares you well for the essays (which are relatively important in NY compared to other states). His written materials are pretty crap in comparison to BarBri, though.
In Soviet Russia, the bar takes you.
29 – your dorky avatar and HR like behavior disgusts me. Leave immediately.
ATL COMMUNITY
45
You’re full of shit. Plenty of normal people here. If everyone dislikes him (and presumably you) after a year’s worth of classes together, it’s probably on you, not the section.
-Fellow HLS 3L