Gizmodo’s Developers Cubed series offers a behind the scenes look into Australia’s up and coming dev scene. This week: We chat with Melbourne-based Outware Mobile, about trash, gravy and the battle between Google and Apple.
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Who are you and where do you work?
Danny Gorog, Director at Outware Mobile. We are a Melbourne based developer of apps for iPhone, iPad, Android and Windows Phone. Primarily we develop custom apps for clients ranging from large enterprises, government and corporates. We’ve also just been appointed to the VIC Government eServices Panel and nominated to the Top 50 Cool Company Awards.
Why do we know you? What have you created?
Last year we created over 20 apps for clients including some high profile apps like the Sensis TotalCheck, James Halliday Wine Companion, SuperRacing for News Ltd, Paul Kelly’s How to Make Gravy and the official RockWiz iPhone app.
We’ve also been busy building apps for government including The Daily List for Department of Justice in Victoria, The Wine Regions of Victoria for Tourism Vic, Hort Service Finder for DPI, and we’re about to release an app for the EPA Victoria that lets users report litter.
We also developed a couple of our own apps called Shop Ethical and Snap Send Solve. Snap Send Solve is an app that lets anyone in Australia report an issue to their local council in under a minute. Both Shop Ethical and Snap Send Solve have been really successful on the App Store and we love that our apps are really making a difference in people’s lives.
What are you working on right now?
We’ve just released a great app for Everguide. Everguide is the events guide for Australia. It’s got great content, great design and best of all it’s free. We’re also close to releasing a technically complex web-app for the Department of Justice that makes assessing Daily List information easy.
We’re working on a diverse range of apps including the development of a big enterprise grade Android app that’s technically challenging and another universal app designed to teach kids about orchestra and classical music.
How did you get into development?
I’m more the business guy than the developer, but my other two business partners are both incredible devs. One is a PhD in robotics and I think he just loved solving problems from the day he was born. The other cut his teeth working for large enterprise. Together I think we make a great team with a broad range of experience. Since January, we have grown from the three founders to a team of 14.
What do you think about the rise and rise of App Stores? How has it influenced your titles?
We made the decision early that building apps for business would be a good business and I think the past 18 months has proved us right so far. But we’re also building our own apps focused on concepts that we think can have a large impact. We continue to throw around ideas but at present our HR is consumed working on client apps.
The rise of the App Stores is really an exciting phenomenon from our perspective. You’ve got Google and Apple adding over 500,000 new users every day. That is incredible growth and as a dev you get to target that market each day. It’s super exciting.
What’s your favourite app that you didn’t create?
I’m loving Tweetbot at the moment – the attention to detail is just so complex. As a fellow developer I think I’ve got a good appreciation of the effort and complexity involved and I have enormous respect for the Tapbot crew.
What phone do you use? Why?
I’m using an iPhone 4S at the moment but was experimenting using an Nexus S. I really liked the Nexus but I find I’m more productive on the iPhone at the moment.
Each time I get a new Android phone I think about how far and how quickly Google have come. I think the competition between Apple and Google is just great for all users.
What advice do you have for budding Aussie developers out there?
Get familiar with the iOS Dev Centre. Spend some time going through the tutorials and sample code that Apple provide. Also, we’re always looking for great mobile devs so please send me your CV – jobs@outware.com.au