Jimmy Verner Jr. (pictured), a shareholder in Dallas' Verner & Brumley, has begun marketing a Texas child support calculator application for an iPhone. "I'm kind of a techy person. I developed a formula for figuring out child support payments online, and someone in my office said, 'You ought to turn it into an iPhone application,' " recalls Verner. So, with the help of a freelance software developer and about a month's worth of effort, he did just that. His application has been on sale on iTunes online since July 23. So far, Verner says, 20 customers have bought it, paying $7.99 each -- 70 percent of which Verner pockets, with 30 percent going to iPhone's famous maker Apple Computer Inc. Verner says he is considering developing similar iPhone applications for New York and California child support calculations, but those states have more complicated formulas, so it's taking more time. In the next two weeks, he plans to begin marketing an iPhone application to calculate litigation deadlines, factoring in weekends and holidays. Oh, by the way, Verner didn't even own an iPhone until he needed to test his idea.
-- Miriam Rozen
