SAN FRANCISCO, April 27, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- TOUR WRIST®, a mobile and web-based virtual tour hosting company, will make its Application Programming Interface (API) available in June 2011.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110427/CL88758LOGO )

The powerful API will enable panoramic image apps, software, and even some hardware to upload and host images on the TOUR WRIST® platform, free of charge.

TOUR WRIST® – already the destination for 18,000 virtual tour images since the platform launched in September 2010 – will enable consumers to easily shoot, upload, host, search, view and share 360-degree virtual tours using third-party smartphone apps, desktop software, and panoramic cameras.

"We anticipate third-party panoramic photography developers will also leverage affordable smartphone accessories to allow 360-degree video uploads in the near future," says TOUR WRIST® CEO and Founder Charles Armstrong. "We're embracing developers and manufacturers that specialize in 360-degree imaging to offer consumers a seamless shoot and share virtual tour experience."

TOUR WRIST® will soon contact the growing list of 360-degree panoramic app developers and panoramic camera equipment manufacturers; a list that includes:

App Developers

1. 360 Panorama (Occipital)

2. bubbli (Bubbli Co)

3. AutoStitch Panorama      (Cloudburst Research)

4. Pano (Debacle Software)

5. PanoLab and PanoLab Pro (Originate Labs)

6. PanoMinute (Denis Martin)

7. Panorama (Airshed)

8. Panorama Free (Free the Apps!)

9. Panorama Mosaicker (Intpel)

10. Panoramatic 360 (Andrea Esposito)

11. Video to Panorama (Haiqun Deng)

Software Developers

12. AutoPano Pro (Kolor)

13. Hugin (Open Source)

14. Photosynth (Microsoft Corp.)

15. PTgui (New House Internet Services B.V.)

Hardware Manufacturers

16. Giroptic 360 Degree Camera (Giroptic) – 360-degree panoramic video camera

17. GoPano Micro (EyeSee360) – 360-degree iPhone 4 video accessory

18. Sony iSweep–Enabled Cameras (Sony) — consumer cameras

"Developers and manufacturers will be able to focus on their core competencies; including image capture; stitching; and processing from computers; smartphones; and other devices," says Armstrong. "TOUR WRIST® will then pick up where they leave off, providing a seamless consumer experience that extends to uploading; hosting; searching; viewing; and sharing the resulting images through our best–in–class virtual tour platform.

"While TOUR WRIST's online Panoguide photographer online site has 5,700 registered  pros and semi-pros, releasing the TOUR WRIST® AmaTour® API will  truly democratize panoramic photography – enabling virtually anyone with a smartphone to create and share 360-degree images for free.

"Businesses – such as travel and tourism destinations (hotels, bed and breakfasts), restaurants, and real estate professionals – will embrace digital panoramic image solutions that enable them to shoot, share and promote their business at little or no cost. Until recently, shooting and sharing panoramic images often required $3,000 or more in camera gear and software, plus hosting – not to mention an expertise in using them all."

Plus, with its free–to–paid "freemium" pricing model, TOUR WRIST® will offer enhanced tour hosting with services that include:

1. Links to companies' branding/marketing documents

2. No watermarks

3. Turn–key micro–sites

4. Premium image tagging options

5. Premium geo-location options

6. No banner advertising

7. Featured in industry specific sales categories (e.g. Real Estate for Sale)

"For businesses that require professional virtual tour shoots, TOUR WRIST® offers a world–wide, professional 'pano' photographer community," says industry veteran and Chief Operating Officer, Jeff Handley.

"We anticipate great uses of the TOUR WRIST® AmaTour® API will be mashups that we haven't even imagined; just as developers built amazing apps for the Twitter API," says Armstrong. "Our vision is to create the very best virtual tour authoring experience by enabling pano developers and manufacturers to do what they do best while leveraging our robust hosting, searching and sharing infrastructure."

"By enabling consumers to have a seamless shoot and share experience from their choice of multiple apps, programs, and cameras, TOUR WRIST® will continue to be the new 'go to' critical mass repository for geo-searching, viewing and sharing virtual tours — just as YouTube is for video," said Chief Strategy Officer Tony Miller. "Plus, when appropriate, tours will be syndicated to our other private label apps, supporting individual businesses such as real estate brokers." Notably, TOUR WRIST® is currently the only RE/MAX® Approved Supplier for virtual tours.

Developers and manufacturers who would like to be notified as soon as the free TOUR WRIST® AmaTour® API is available, can email their contact info to: API@TourWrist.com.

About TOUR WRIST

Spark Mobile, LLC has been doing business as TOUR WRIST® since September 2010. The free TOUR WRIST® viewing app (for iDevices) is available from the Apple iTunes App Store and has been downloaded over 150,000 times since its launch. The highly acclaimed TOUR WRIST® app allows user to control what they see. On iDevices, it appears as a window to each space. So, for example, pointing upward may reveal the ceiling within a room and looking down, the floor.

TOUR WRIST® was among the Apple Picks for Great Free Apps, Hot Apps, and New and Noteworthy for much of April 2011 in the iTunes App Store. Also in April, TOUR WRIST® was among the Top 10 Free Entertainment iPad apps in the App Store. The current version of the app is rated 4.5 stars from 275+ reviews; and four-stars among all versions of the app from 730+ reviewers. A mobile–optimized web app for Android devices is also being developed.

The TOUR WRIST® company (private) is headquartered in Tampa, FL with satellite offices around the country. TOUR WRIST® and AmaTour® are registered trademarks of Spark Mobile, LLC. For more information about TOUR WRIST®, please visit:

iTunes App Store:  www.itunes.com/app/TourWrist
Web:  www.TourWrist.com
YouTube:  www.YouTube.com/TourWrist
Twitter:  www.Twitter.com/TourWrist

Contact: Dan Smigrod, CEO & Chief Creative Officer, GREAT!, 404-303-7311, mobile, 404-635-6856, dan@GREATtv.com

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Charles Armstrong | https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=102203

SOURCE TOUR WRIST