Couple land windfall from mobile apps firm Mobile IQ

Shaun and Elaine Barriball, the husband and wife team who run Mobile IQ, landed a major windfall yesterday as they sold their mobile app firm to the giant publishing software company Quark.

Mobile IQ has created phone and tablet apps for a raft of major media brands, including BBC News, Top Gear and Property Week.

Mr Barriball said demand was soaring thanks to Apple's iPad.

"It is now a very serious source of digital revenues for publishers," he said, adding the market was becoming more complex as Google, Amazon and others introduce rival operating systems.

He said Mobile IQ was benefiting because its technology can "solve the fragmentation problem".

The company, founded in 2005, employs 30 people in London, Basingstoke and San Francisco, and many have share options.

Mobile IQ had net assets of £600,000 last year but the sale price is likely to be much higher.