As many of you know, we’re currently in the process of rebuilding tap tap tap after our recent meltdown. We now have four all-new apps in development (we just hired two additional programmers to help things along, making a total of four programmers on the team now) but our home page has been looking pretty sparse.

Although we’re now operating more smoothly and efficiently than ever, we still have a ways to go before these apps will be released. Well, today I’m extremely happy to announce that we’re co-publishing what’s very likely to be one of the hottest, new iPhone apps, Classics.

Simply put, Classics is reading redefined. With Classics, you “escape into some of the greatest stories ever written and experience a revolutionary new reading platform”. You really have to try it or see it in action to appreciate revolutionary this app is. On the Classics page, we have a movie that shows it in action.

Classics was created and developed by my MacHeist partner, Phill Ryu and Andrew “Kaz” Kazmierski, the creator of the precursor to one of the most talked about Mac apps in history, Delicious Library. What’s most notable about Kaz’s work on the original Library was that he was just 13 years old when he developed it! I remember seeing Library years ago and I recall being really impressed/envious that someone so young was creating better apps than I was, even with all the years of programming I had under my belt.

Kaz is 18 now and he’s continued to hone his skills over the years and now he and Phill, after working tireless months, are proud to bring you Classics. Phill’s always been a very avid reader (he takes after his dad that way) so this app was truly a labor of love. Phill and Kaz are really into cool UIs and you can see that throughout the app. Once you try it, you immediately notice the attention to detail that’s been emphasized everywhere, from the realistic page turns… to the beautiful book cover art… and everything in-between.

Classics

Features:

• Beautifully designed interface
• Table of Contents button for quick navigation
• Reading progress display integrated in top bar
• Remembers your place
• More books to come via updates

Price: $2.99

More info: at the App Store

I’ve been following along with Classics’ development as it’s been going on and I knew right from the start that this was going to be an amazing app. And I knew immediately that I wanted to have it somehow be a part of tap tap tap’s portfolio. This app is right in-line with our vision for what an iPhone app should be and we’re working very hard to have our upcoming apps have the same level of quality.

Even though I’ve known and worked with Phill for a long time, it wasn’t easy to make this relationship become a reality. Kaz was concerned that he wouldn’t get the proper credit for his work (easy to see, given the past). So, I just want to make it totally clear that tap tap tap had no part in the development of the app (aside from reviewing the zillion mockups/movies/builds that Phill would incessantly send me ).

What’s our relationship here exactly? We’re going to be co-publishing the app along with them. They have their own website for the app at ClassicsApp.com. Why are we doing this? Simple… we both benefit from it. They’ll get increased exposure, especially when we finish and release the apps we have in the works while we build our portfolio with a very solid, very sweet app. And again, since we’re currently app-less, there’s no better time to get this on our home page. We’re going to be testing this out for a bit and if it works out, we’ll continue the relationship.

Here are the books that are included with the first version of Classics:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
• Gulliver’s Travels
• The Time Machine
• Call of the Wild
• The Metamorphosis
• Paradise Lost
• Hound of the Baskervilles
• Alice in Wonderland (illustrated)
• Flatland (illustrated)
• 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
• Robinson Crusoe
• The Jungle Book

Even though Kaz & Phill were responsible for the bulk of getting Classics to market, it wouldn’t have been done without the help of a ton of other talent. David Lanham, Sebastiaan De With, Kevin Capizzi, Daniel Goffin, and Karl Baron all had a big hand in making Classics the beautiful and delightful app that it is. A huge congrats goes out to all of them for getting this out and having it turn out so great!

Check out Classics at the App Store now.