• Developer name:Hilary Wilson
• Company Website
• Company Name:iSpiny Software
• Apps at the App Store:2
• Location:UK

About Dev

Tell us a little about you, and your current company.

iSpiny has taken off rather unexpectedly! It started last summer when I suggested to my son that we both learn Objective-C and try developing an iPhone app between us. Alex already knew C so he was much faster than me, and he ended up doing virtually all the original coding of the resulting app, Chirp!. I’d suggested we started with a bird song app, as I already had samples of bird songs from a similar desktop app I’d made many years ago, but my longer term aim was to develop apps to help in biological field work.

However, the response to Chirp! was very positive, especially in Germany and Switzerland, and plans for other apps were put on hold. I am now responsible for maintaining and upgrading Chirp! though I occasionally frequently call on Alex to help out . iSpiny was intended to be a spin-off of my main business, Spiny Software, but its been enough of a success that I now intend to work on iPhone apps full time.

About your background: what did you do before taking up iPhone development?

I consider myself primarily a scientist - I have a doctorate in Zoology and I’ve also worked as a cytogeneticist - but for the past 10 years I’ve been developing educational software using Adobe Director, on biological sciences and the environment. I enjoy computer work but only if the content is something that I find interesting, so I prefer to work for myself though I do occasionally take on other projects. For example, one recent project was a Mac/Win cd-rom of the results of seabed surveys, presenting the data in a variety of ways suitable both for researchers and also the general public.

About Work

What apps have you developed so far? Tell us about your apps in brief.

Chirp! and Chirp! USA is a bird song app, designed to help everyone identify birds in the backyard, gardens, parks and woods. Chirp! covers birds in north-west Europe and is in 6 languages, while Chirp! USA covers continental USA apart from Alaska. The first time it is run the app checks your location to load the correct bird data, and the birds are arranged in order of commonness so that if you are trying to identify something, you can start with the most likely candidates.

It’s much quicker that way (it really annoys me when guides are padded out with rare birds and birds not found in the region). You can change the region, or select all birds to see the full range, and there’s also a quiz at varying difficulty levels so you can test how well you know the songs. New birds are being added regularly, and are chosen from user feedback.

How do you go from idea to app? What’s the process?

Probably much like anyone who works primarily by themselves, I cover sheets and sheets of paper with scribbled plans, rough storyboards and lists of ideas, and get as much feedback as possible. Lots of trial and error, especially with artwork - I’m not artistic so I don’t know if something will look good until I actually see it. I usually work with people who are not in the same geographical location as me and while this is fine in many ways, you can’t beat sitting around a table for a good brainstorming session, so I know I miss out there.

Any exciting stuff you are working on? Give our readers a hint of what to expect from you next.

Chirp! and Chirp! USA are still keeping me occupied full time, so nothing else is definite yet.

Do you develop for other platforms? How do you compare the iPhone development platform with other platforms?

The best thing about developing for the iPhone has to be the AppStore. It may not be perfect, but compared with trying to sell software to schools, well, it’s wonderful. One store, worldwide, and your entire market has to buy from it. And Apple only take a 30% cut - most resellers want 40-50%. What else is great? Not having to deal with Windows - joy! On the downside, I certainly miss the ease and speed of development that you get with Director.

Tell us something about how users are responding to your apps. What’s the most flattering comment you have received? Or the weirdest?

I have an email link within each app so I get feedback that way as well as through AppStore reviews, but most of the feedback is in German, French or Dutch so I spend a lot of time in Google Translate! Most people really love the apps, and I get some great messages, including offers to translate it into various languages free of charge. I’m just hoping now that someone will offer a free Danish translation as that’s the only (non-minority) language from the area covered by Chirp! that isn’t included.

I add new birds in response to user feedback, so I get emails asking for various birds, usually well-known species but also less common ones such as the Hoopoe and Golden Oriole. One of the fascinating aspects is comparing different nationalities - our top sales for Chirp! come from Switzerland, and the feedback from there has been absolutely great. In second place is Germany, then the Netherlands. I was pleased to see from my weekly report last week that at least 75% of the people who have bought Chirp! since it was launched in December still have it on their device, as this many updated it to get the Nightingale in just the one week.

I try to ignore the AppStore reviews but every now and again I weaken and I take a look. Most reviews are 4- and 5-star but it’s the few 1-star reviews that stick in the mind - it astonishes me that some people can be so vitriolic over a cheap bird song app!

About the App Store

Name two iPhone apps you consider are cool, excluding the apps you’ve developed. What makes these apps stand out?

Choosing just two is hard. I’m a sucker for cute graphics and anything a bit silly, so my first choice probably should be Rolando. But for the same reasons I love Sapus Tongue - it’s not something I play often but would never throw it off my iPod - its combination of graphics, music and general silliness make it such a happy app. My second choice has to be Ancient Frog. Stunning beautiful and so realistic - did the developer spend ages studying frogs to get it this good? Everything about it is first class.

Any message to your fellow developers?

*waves*

Thanks Hilary for your time.