INTERVIEW : with Eden Yap, the Professional Apps Developer

[csllanna]

Good day to you, this is my first formal interview on behalf of iPadForum.net/Chinese Dedicated iPad Forum.

This is my great pleasure to have Eden Yap, Malaysia local Apps Developer be my first Interview Guest. And I am sure that all of the readers will obtain the useful information and knowledge from this article.


Interview Title: From Website to Apps, Are you ready?
Interviewer : Chin Sook Ling (csllanna)
Interviewee : Mr Eden Yap Yee Teng (Eden_Yap)
Writer : Chin Sook Ling (csllanna)
Edited by : David Storm (dgstorm)

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1) Background and profile of the entrepreneur.

EY: I am Eden Yap Yee Teng, Apps Developer. I went to a local college to learn Programming after my secondary school- Chong Hua Independent High School in Kuala Lumpur. I was learning COBOL and Pascal. Eventually I joined the EDP department at the brokerage firm, K & N Kenanga, where I operated the Unix base of customized systems.

(Picture of Eden)


I decided to move into commercial marketing after my 7th year of service in the EDP line. During my 8 years of marketing, I have used the Power Mac, MacBook and MacBook Air for my business. I installed Window 98 SE in Parallels Desktop for Mac in the early stages. Later on, I switched to Number, Keynote and Pages from Apple.

Normally I will fly to Singapore to get the latest Apple product like the iPhone 3, iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and the iPad and iPad 2 respectively.

I adore Apple gadgets because of their resolution, speed, improved cameras and displays.

The success of the Farting iTunes App by Joel Comm inspired me, and I started to do a lot of research through the Internet, especially with Developers at Apple.com. I learned how to use the Xcode and iOS SDK (Software Development Kit), and created my first apps in October 2010.

My first app was SikGaa (食家）which is basically a Malaysian food informatics app that is still available in the Apps Store. It was approved within five working days.

(Print screen of SikGaa)


With the release of the iPad in 2010, I stumbled on an opportunity when a local famous Hyundai car dealer approached us. They asked us to design an in-house app for them within one month. They needed it urgently for the Car Exhibition and I made it for them.

2) What is the difference between in-house apps and commercial apps?

EY: You must submit both commercial apps and in-house apps to the App Store for approval. You can charge either free or a monetary figure for commercial apps, but the in-house apps can only be used by the authorized personnel of the specific company.

(Print Screen of Hyundai apps)



For example, an in-house app for a dealer could be used only for the showroom staff, the dealers, and their customers. It allows customers to get the latest information, nearest service center and more with their iOS device.

The format of the in-house apps could be sold in a:
1) Maintenance contract,
2) Source code without the rights (means cannot rebuild and resell),
3) Source code (where could rebuild and resell)


Although it is possible to easily create apps, they are hard to maintain at the top list of the apps store. You may have 10,000 downloads in the first few hours, then drop to 3,000 in the next hour, and then never get noticed again.

However, some of the apps may get hot, and are downloaded a few months later because of word of mouth.

Therefore, it is also a wise option and a more practical idea that apps developers should expand the scope of their business from just commercial apps to in-house apps as well. This can help to cover the fixed cost. This is not only a method for surviving, but it does help the company to gain more credit in their profile. And for my case, I had expanded my sector from Hyundai to BMW, and from the Beauty Salon to the Food Sector.

(Print screen of BMW apps)




Chinese Dedicated iPad Forum Index Page：http://www.ipadforums.net/chinese-dedicated-ipad-forum/
Malaysian Dedicated iPad Forum Index Page：http://www.ipadforums.net/malaysian-dedicated-ipad-forum/

 

[csllanna]

3) What are the differences between Web Site developer and Apps Developer?

EY: Actually they are 5 major differences between web sites and apps.

First of all, the website has a quite long history in the market, and we can get the module help, i.e., Object Oriented method. However, the apps are created with Xcode, which could be the base of a native program and not only restricted to one platform.

Second, web sites need an online browser to view, while many apps can be used offline.

Third, we need to know the actual website address or search through a Search Engine before we can visit a web site. But, apps won't cause this problem because it becomes an icon and stays on your iPad or iPhones.

Fourth, many websites are full of static information, and may be used to hyperlink and lead the user to a social network. But, apps can also provide a personalized customization detail, like looking for the nearest service center. Additionally, websites can be interactive with the social network but apps also allow users to interact with Facebook and Twitter within the app itself.

Last but not least, apps can be stand alone without the existence of a web site or browser.

4) Can a good web site developer be a good apps developer as well?

EY: Although we may use HTML and Java to create the apps, it will simply pull and download the information from the existing web site and may not function 100%. It always comes in text format and needs to be downloaded to every page that you wish to visit. It may make the user think of a mobile web site.

If you look into the "apps" carefully, you can tell that these kinds of apps are basically developed with informatics characteristics and each page has a button of "back" functions. And, some of the functions appear at the place where it will block the company logo as well.

Some may criticize that iOS devices don't work with Flash, but I agree with the opinion of Steve Jobs that Flash is an old technology and it should be eliminated. We should concentrate on HTML5 because it comes with a smaller size for web-files. It has faster speed and can implement multiple functions.

Users can check on Apple HTML5 at Apple - HTML5 where it shows you the flexibility of HTML5. I wish to draw your attention to the function of 360degree because it is much more powerful than Flash.





On top of that, don't forget the flexibility of the Xcode. For example you can have a "Cube" movement with HTML5, and the Xcode could make you move around with the cube either from up to down, from left to right or from the left corner to upwards right corner.

In the future, users will likely prefer the dynamic view of apps compared with the static movement of web sites.

 

[csllanna]

5) What is your opinion about the development of the apps developed market in Malaysia?

EY: When I made Cold Call, I started in the apps development business in 2010 when a lot of people still didn't know about apps. And I noticed most of Malaysian only used the iPhone for phone calls and games. However, the situation started to change in early 2012 where customers call and ask for more.

I concluded that the trend will be: customers and stakeholders may start asking for the company apps instead of a website address. And the QR code or QAR code will appear on all their documents, name card, brochures, etc., because this is more convenient for the customer or stakeholder to get company information.

6) What are the differences between Malaysia developers and foreign country's developer?

EY: Here in Malaysia we can ask for help in the Apple Developer Forum, but we can't obtain much help from local sources, nor the government (i.e., MSC). This is because the apps development market is an oligopoly market where there are only a few players and the market entry is difficult. We may conclude that this is a unique, niche and professional market.

Therefore, the difference between a Malaysian developer and a foreign country's developer will be:
1) User interface design,
2) Traditional culture,
3) Education background,
4) And all these will link to: concept of presenting.

For instance, we may use a formal concept to present the user interface but others may use something simple but dramatic. One example is the apps of Draw Something. It creates a chain reaction when it integrates with a social network.

(Print screen of Draw Something apps)

 

[csllanna]

7) How can we strengthen the status of the Malaysia development in the world's market?

EY: Actually the customers always review the company profile before making the decision to offer you a contract. This is because they will know the strength and the skill of the developer depending on the informatics design, interactive design or functional design.

Therefore, I suggest that we should have some kind of competition or award structure, either from Apple or a third party, i.e., PC Fair. It will help to strengthen the status of our developers.

Also, we need fresh blood to join into this market. As far as I know, only the University of Lim Kok Weng will offer iOS and Android courses. I think they won't face the problem that I experienced before, where I learned Cobol and Pascal in college, but eventually they faded off from the market when I completed my course. Most probably will change to iOS 6 or iOS 7 in the future.

8) How do I submit an app to the Apple Apps Store and Android Market?

EY: If a person decided to design end user (free and commercial) apps, he/she should purchase the Developer Program with USD $99. However, if they decided to create entrepreneurial in-house apps, he/she needs to buy the Full Developer Program at USD $299.

Apple will give you a Certificate that is required in order for a developer to generate a Provisioning Profile. Later you could zip and upload the apps, created with Xcode (with the Provisioning Profile), to the Apps Store. Normally the apps will be approved or rejected within 7 working days.

The apps review team of Apple is very friendly, they will inform you the weakness of your app and give advice on how to improve them if any rejection took place.

I am not familiar with the Android Market, but as far as I know, the program file needs to be zipped and uploaded to the Android Market with less progression of the review.

9) Can you please share your vision in Apps Development with us?

EY: From my point of view, apps could have an unlimited development as long as the device continues to exist. We started with a desktop PC, then laptop with hard disk and laptop with flash memory chips, and later tablets joined the picture with multi-touch screens. We don't need mice anymore, and we don't need wires to connect the PC and tablets.

Some may say that the scroll paper quality of the tablet will be the next target. But with the introduction of the virtual keyboard, we can predict that virtual tablets should be the next main role in the IT world. I myself, particularly enjoy the gorgeous scene in the movie Iron Man where we can drag and throw away unwanted files.

And here is the end of the interview with Eden Yap. I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Eden for taking up his time, as this interview stretched out for three hours long.

See you!

 

[drnhlau]

Congratulation, Mr Yap for your achievement so far. Any chance of doing an app for medical clinics, as there is no such app in the store yet!

 

[Gabriel1]

This a great interview, very informative, thanks to both of you.

The Archangel

 

[csllanna]

Congratulation, Mr Yap for your achievement so far. Any chance of doing an app for medical clinics, as there is no such app in the store yet!

Good day, Dr Lau,

Thank you for the idea.

This is the tue meaning of the Apps, helping people to solve the problem.

 

[csllanna]

This a great interview, very informative, thanks to both of you.

The Archangel

Thank you, The Archangel,

I hope that this article will help the readers to understand more about Apps Development.

Thanks.

 

[col.bris]

Fantastic to see the final interview. You did a magnificent job. Congratulations to both of you for your valuable input

 

[csllanna]

Fantastic to see the final interview. You did a magnificent job. Congratulations to both of you for your valuable input

Thank you, Colin.

 

[leelai]

I've really enjoyed reading this and found it very informative. Thank you both!

 

[csllanna]

I've really enjoyed reading this and found it very informative. Thank you both!

Thank you, Sandra,

I wish I could expand the scope of the interviewee in future.

Thank you.

 

[f4780y]

WOW. Really nice interview. Look forward to more in the future

 

[csllanna]

WOW. Really nice interview. Look forward to more in the future

Thank you, I wish I could do better in the future. ^^