PlayMesh brings farming to the iPhone with iFarm

PlayMesh became famous on the iPhone when it launched its iMafia game in January. The app had a novel virtual goods model in the days before Apple had its own way of embracing what has become an extremely popular business model for monetizing virtual goods.
The iMafia game was a hit and it was designed to let players earn points in the iMafia game if they purchased other PlayMesh games. But PlayMesh ran afoul of Apple’s restrictions and went silent for a while. Now the company has created iFarm by PlayMesh, a game that brings the popular farming genre to the iPhone. Apple, meanwhile, has enabled a virtual goods model by allowing purchases to be made inside apps now.
Zynga’s FarmVille has become the world’s most popular game, with 65 million monthly active users on Facebook. (That’s an audience of one in every five Facebook users). Farm games have also been a runaway success in Asia. But farm games haven’t tapped their full potential on other platforms. In less than 24 hours, iFarm has jumped into the top 25 ranks on the iPhone AppStore, claiming the position as the No. 1 farm game. This game is probably worth watching closely, since farming has become such a huge money maker on Facebook.
Mountain View, Calif.-based PlayMesh has created more than 10 top 25 apps on the iPhone, including iMafia and Link4 Online by PlayMesh (a game where you link four spots in a row in a multiplayer race). It has more than 5 million registered users and serves over a million plays a day in Link4 Online by PlayMesh.
The company managed to beat other players such as Zynga and the creators of FarmTown, Slashkey, in coming up with an iPhone version of a farm game, where you can raise crops and sell them. Players grow stuff, decorate their farms, rise in levels, and earn coins. Farm sizes can stretch to 100 plots of land.
The company’s goal is to bring social games to the iPhone, said Charles Ju, chief executive of PlayMesh. PlayMesh was founded in July, 2008, to make games for the iPhone. The company has five employees.