By April revenue had doubled and PolderbitS was working on a new version of the Sound Recorder and Editor with build in MP3 codec, a top user requirement according to the survey. This codec was licensed from Thomson, the patent holder of MP3. Maxshareware took care of the contract and closed the deal.

By June revenues had been tripled and a new version ready to be launched. The new version 3, including build-in MP3 codec, was released on July 1st 2003. Pricing analyses by Maxshareware showed that a price increase would be positive for the revenue (and also required to cover MP3 royalties) so the new version 3 was priced at 30$ up from 20$.

The new version 3 turned out to be a big success. Both current and new customers bought the software, boosting revenues to 4 times the November 2002 revenue in July 2003. Although on-line business in August is typically slow, new license revenue grew another 11% for PolderbitS in August.

Growth really started picking up in fall and winter as Google Adwords, Overture and other pay per click programs produced many downloads and other sources started to distribute the PolderbitS shareware downloads as well. At the end of 2003 PolderbitS had 16000 customers and doubled its user base in 2003.

2004 is off to a good start with 27% more licenses sold in January and with several retail distribution deals in the pipeline PolderbitS is ready for the rest of the year!