Things seem to have gotten off on the right foot for much-hyped gesture controller company Leap Motion. Since its debut on July 22, the startup has already hit a major milestone — it’s already had more than one million downloads from its app store, AirSpace.
“We’re excited to see so much interest and enthusiasm from our global community,” said Leap Motion CEO Michael Buckwald in a conversation with me. “Our developer community continues to grow along with our users, and we’re excited to see people all over the world exploring a new way to interact with their computers.”
While the company has declined to give hard numbers regarding the sale and distribution of individual units, the landscape of AirSpace is a little clearer. Out of the 87 apps that currently exist within AirSpace, three out of four of them are paid experiences. The lion’s share of all apps are classified as “games,” with classic products like Fruit Ninja and Cut the Rope. The company said that the controller has also seen success with GamePlay, a $ 3.99 app that allows for control of PC games like MineCraft, Portal 2, and Borderlands 2.
But the top grossing game is actually for musicians: a $ 9.99 app called Geco MIDI, which allows users to use a MIDI controller.
Leap Motion’s million-download achievement less than a month after the controller’s release is great news for the startup. Customers are sampling a variety of software and selecting paid software — not just free fare.
The real test will come in AirSpace’s continued performance as the controller becomes embedded in HP and ASUS notebooks. If it’s able to withstand — and even thrive — with a much larger user base, then the future of the company a little bit brighter.
But it’s not only the size of the audience, but how actively engaged they are. In order to be more than just a one-off playtime experience, Leap Motion will need to become a full-time utility to remain relevant in gesture control.
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