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Wednesday, 12 February 2014 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
The two young developers M.S. Heshan, a 23 year old alumnus of Richmond College Galle, a Software Engineer who received his degree from APIIT and Tharaka Wijebandara a final year Information Technology Undergraduate from the Moratuwa University, were winners at the ‘Nokia Create’ global competition, which invited developers from across the world to develop Apps for Nokia Lumia and Windows 8 phones.
The competition had 15 missions built around eight categories, opening doors for developers with different skill sets, be it in imaging, gaming or something entirely different, broadening opportunities for every developer who was willing to treat the competition as a challenge to learn something new. Each mission had a specific focus; from shorter Mini Missions, where new features could be added to improve existing Windows Phone apps, to Master Missions that challenged developers to create new ones. A ‘Do Good Mission’ category was also included where developers could compete by devising apps for the visually impaired.
Tharaka Wijebandara who won the Master Mission under the photo and image category said that he competed against 76 countries worldwide. “Since I was competing in the image category I had to develop something relating to the camera and photography so I opted to develop ad app that could work for facebook. My app combines the FB timeline and profile pictures to create a unique picture, which is easy to use. The interesting thing is I did not compete against amateurs or students; there were experienced developers participating in this competition and I won against them.”
Tharaka, who is part of the ever-growing Microsoft Developer Community, s competencies in app developing are not limited to the Windows Phone platform,at he is excited about the Windows Phonm because it is new. “I feel it’s a new experience. The concept is new and when you look at the market share, Windows Phones have done very well compared to other phones. Also it is easier to develop on the Windows platform because we get a lot of the downloads, tools and knowledge support free of cost from Microsoft and they also make it easy for us to upload the apps for e.g. we develop and upload and Microsoft takes it from there. Apple tools on the other hand are quite expensive to purchase and Android has zillions of apps; all considered developing Apps for Windows Phone is a far more exciting prospect,”ai
M.S. Heshan, who is currently employed at AHL Business Solutions, won his Master Mission in Nokia Create’s ‘Extreme Music’ Category. He created the App with the ‘Do Good’ category in mind but won under ‘Extreme Music’. “The Windows phone has a very basic music player; there are restrictions when it comes to adding or deleting new songs to play lists. I wanted to overcome these limitations and created an app that allows people to develop their custom play lists and easily manage their favourites,” says Heshan who intends further developing his app which has become a hit amongst users who are already requesting many added features to it. Because he intended the app to be used by the visually impaired it also includes a special blind screen activated with voice commands.
Heshan says that he preferred to develop apps on the Windows platform because Microsoft provided the developer tools free of charge when he was studying at APIIT, which was a great opportunity. “Also time does not permit developing apps on so many different platforms. It is easier to stick to one and besides, being a developer is about trying out new things and this is all new. Apart from that I have a passion to create,” he says.
The latest findings from Forrester Research says that Microsoft was the only brand to achieve the ‘trailblazer status’ which indicates it is “at the forefront of brand building with a unique and distinct brand identity that sets it apart from other brands”. Forrester’s reasoning for placing Microsoft above Apple and Samsung was that while Apple and Samsung battled to reign supreme with the coveted millennial generation, Microsoft has quietly stolen the consumer technology crown by becoming more trusted and essential across multiple generations. According to the report the very ubiquity that perhaps rendered the brand ‘uncool’ has turned out to be its strength. This is apparent from the latest IDC figures, which says that Windows Phone sales have jumped 156%, picking up steam over the last year.
Microsoft Sri Lanka DPE Director Wellington Perera said: “According to a recent report put out by IDC, over one billion smart phones were shipped last year, the first time such a number was shipped in a single year; this shows the size of this market. One has to look for only a very small fraction of this industry to become successful not only as an App developer but also as an entrepreneur. That is what we encourage our developer community to do, across the world and here in Sri Lanka. And the work we are doing here has paid off with our local developer community showing such great talent. Last year our Imagine Cup team won a world award and this year we have two app developers heading to the Mobile World Congress. This is not only an achievement for our partner Nokia but also a milestone for us.”
App developers can become millionaires in the current global village of demand and supply, where they are exposed to huge markets in cyberspace. These young Sri Lankans getting global recognition makes them trailblazers for the local App developer community and it is hoped that they would bring greater honour to both Windows Phone and Sri Lanka at the Mobile World Congress, which they are attending wholly supported by Nokia.
