Interviews

Exclusive Interview With iOS App – 360 Web Browser Developer – Digital Poke

Digital Poke, the developer behind 360 Web Browser have created an iOS app that offers a host of features giving the user a very comprehensive Safari alternative. We are currently reviewing this app and will post our review shortly. In the meantime read our exclusive interview with the developers, Digital Poke, to find out how the app came about and what the future holds for this innovative company. It’s a great read, don’t miss it…

The Beginning

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1. Please explain how your app was originally thought of and what were your thoughts behind the marketplace, specifically?

360 Browser was thought of to fill the void that Safari creates. We felt that the App Store lacked a true desktop browsing experience and wanted to fill that gap.

 

Design

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2.    Explain the design, how you came up with the colors and themes.

Design of 360 Browser was laid out keeping iOS users in mind. One thing which was very clear in our minds was to keep the design clutter free and still provide the users with all the features and as many optimization as they want to do.

The design of 360 Browser posed various challenges due to our decision of building the app on customized API’s but was worth it.

Themes made their way into the browser after the main features were done. Before 360 Browser, other third party browsers only changed the color of their toolbar and called it a theme. We wanted to create a unique experience to our users when it came to themes and thats why we ended up changing the entire set of images, style and color of every theme of 360 Browser. We were the pioneers in the design and were rewarded for the same when other apps copied us.

Target Market

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3.    Who do you see as the main target market for this app in terms of age, genre and expenditure?

Quite frankly, we believe that the entire demography of iOS users can take advantage of a Browser that lets you browse like a desktop, download files, sync with Firefox, Extend functionality through plugins and play your music files.

Production Process

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4.    How long did it take from the original planning to the production process of this app?

It took us 8 months from the start to the completion of 360 Web Browser.

Sales

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5.    How do you predict sales to be, is there a good solid market for this style of app?

The market for 360 is pretty huge but so is the competition. We believe that we have the best Browser in the App Store and have the figures to prove it.

As of now, all we want is to grow our user base and spread awareness about 360. We haven’t predicted sales so far and we won’t be doing it in the near future. We think that the numbers tend to increase with good customer satisfaction which is what we try to achieve.

Obstacles

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6.    What has been the hardest obstacle you have had to overcome regarding this app development?

360 Browser had its shares of problem but the hardest obstacle would be creating the custom API’s on which 360 operates. We had to dwell really deep into them to have them extend the functionality of iOS and that required a lot of creativity to be pumped along with extra-long work days.

Third Parties

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7.    Would you consider developing apps for third parties?

We would not be developing apps for third parties. We really like our freedom and the way we operate, besides, we have some exciting ideas on which we want to work.

App Store

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8.    What have you learnt from the App Store?

The App Store is quite unpredictable. Making quality apps is only going half the way, the other half depends on your ability to market it and on your users.

Also, an exciting App will grow with its user base while a patched-up App will go down as the user base expands.

Apple Support

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9.    Have Apple supported you well with your App development?

We have a love-hate relationship with Apple like various other developers but till now, it is mostly love.

The Future

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10.    What next, are you developing another app, would you go for the same genre again, if not which?    

We are developing a game which we always wanted to do after making 360. It’s almost done and will be going into Beta pretty soon.

TheAppWhisperer.com

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11    . What do you think about TheAppWhisperer.com? Have we helped you? Would you recommend us? Have we been supportive?

TheAppWhisperer.com has been really nice to us. Joanne was really supportive and friendly so it goes without saying that she helped us a lot and we would definitely recommend you guys.

 

 

Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]

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