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Olathe-based NIC is one of those companies that, when it's doing everything right, you rarely hear about.
NIC provides the engine that powers hundreds of government Web sites across the United States.
That means you can renew your auto tags online in Kansas, register a business in Utah or license a snowmobile in Maine using a Web platform built by NIC.
So if we do think about NIC, we certainly don't think about the Apple iPhone. But that's changing.
NIC developed a software application for the iPhone that became an almost instant hit in the Apple App Store.
Most Wanted is a free iPhone application that feeds the phone information about, and photos of, criminals from the FBI's most-wanted list, most-sought terrorists and missing children.
More then 30,000 iPhone and iPod Touch owners downloaded the application in its first 100 hours in the store. The application was No. 6 on the list of Apple's most popular iPhone utilities.
The lists of missing children, most-wanted criminals and terrorists get updated from FBI databases whenever an iPhone or iPod Touch user launches the application.
Harry Herington, NIC's chief executive, said Most Wanted was the company's second iPhone application. The first was USA Live, an application with a patriotic theme that features an animated image of a waving American flag, kids reading the Pledge of Allegiance, a place to donate to worthy causes and stories about patriotic Americans.
Herington said that USA Live got such a good response from NIC employees that the company's staff decided to develop Most Wanted.
So why is a publicly traded e-government company developing free iPhone applications?
"It's a cool thing that we can have that employees can take pride in," Herington said.
"As an ex-law enforcement officer, I felt strongly that developing and launching the Most Wanted application was the right thing for NIC to do as it directly supports two very important groups -- families of missing children and law enforcement."
Herington once worked as police officer in Wichita and homicide detective in Texas.
Most Wanted's popularity has surprised the company.
"I thought it was cool, and I thought my ex-cop buddies would think it was cool, but to reach 30,000 downloads so quickly?" Herington said.
Designing for mobile handsets isn't new for NIC. Many of the company's government clients use NIC platforms that allow consumers to do business on their smart phones.
"We launched mobile applications back in 2002," Herington said.
In Kansas, for instance, consumers can do anything on an iPhone that they can do on a PC -- including paying their taxes, Herington said.
To reach David Hayes, call 816-234-4904 or send e-mail to dhayes@kcstar.com.
To see more of The Kansas City Star, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.kansascity.com. Copyright (c) 2009, The Kansas City Star, Mo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
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