Case Study: Pimsleur achieves a first-to-market, low-cost iPhone language app launch in 10 weeks with ThoughtWorks' Offshore Agile

Pimsleur - Customer Case Study

ThoughtWorks partnered with Simon & Schuster’s Pimsleur audio division to convert the dormant Pimsleur Express CD content into a low-cost iPhone app under a ten-week deadline. The challenge was to reuse existing lessons and keep development costs minimal while launching quickly enough to beat competing language apps to market.

Using an Offshore Agile model—one senior ThoughtWorks consultant onsite in New York coordinating with a six‑person development team in Beijing and running weekly showcase iterations via Basecamp/Mingle and Webex—the team rapidly iterated on UI issues, accommodated iPhone OS 3.0 changes, and relied on an automated test suite to manage risk. The resulting app added mobile-specific features (synchronized “word balloons,” phrase-by-phrase playback and pronunciation practice), launched on schedule ahead of competitors, and enabled low-cost, repeatable production of additional languages.

Pimsleur