After producing the Gay Community Yellow Pages in Atlanta and South Florida, Carma Productions recognized that customers are no longer turning just to printed directories to find the businesses and services they need.

But what started as simply an additional product for their existing print advertisers quickly took on a life of its own: Gayborhood, the company’s smart phone app, launched on May 15 and has already been downloaded more than 4,000 times.

Gayborhood is currently available for the iPhone, and will come out on the Droid platform in August or September. It serves 38 markets in the United States, with the goal of reaching 300 cities worldwide over the next three years.

For the gay-owned, Atlanta-based business, adding a mobile app to its existing print offerings was a natural progression, says Thomas Ryan, who is partners in Carma Productions with Marci Alt.

“The other applications available mainly provide our community with an easy way to locate bars, restaurants, shopping venues, bathhouses, and community resources,” says Ryan, CFO and publisher for Carma. “While these features are great for some, our community needs more.”

Gayborhood, which now features more than 4,200 advertisers, aims to connect users with gay-friendly businesses across a broad spectrum of categories — Ryan lists landscapers, auto repair, attorneys, childcare and pet grooming as just a few examples.

In addition to the business listings, Gayborhood also has a Journeys feature focused on coming out stories, and is launching pages for Events and Giveaways.

“We’ve designed the application in the spirit of its tagline: Your Life. Your Journey. Your Gayborhood,” Ryan says.