Hon Cheng created SG Buses because he wanted a bus guide to carry around on his iPhone.
“My first introduction to programming when I was in my second year of graduate school,” says Hon Cheng. “I took a Java module. Sad to say, I don't remember how to use it anymore. I can only say that I am good with Python, that's all.”
It seems appropriate that Hon Cheng should be good with Python, the programming language, because he is currently completing a Masters degree in biology at the National University of Singapore.
Started with jailbreak apps
So how did the biology post-graduate get started on iPhone programming? “I am very interested in iPhone programming because I can see the end result. That's what drove me despite facing a lot of difficulties.”
His first applications were two jailbreak apps, MRTSchedule and Transit, which were released before Apple threw open the App Store in the middle of the year. MRTSchedule gives the times for the first and last trains on Singapore’s MRT system, while Transit is a bus guide that also allows you to plan your journey. The bus guide part of Transit is now known as SG Buses and Hon Cheng has released it for free on the App Store. (The journey planning module might come later.)
He says he made these two apps because he wanted the information on his iPhone, “so I picked up Objective C and tried to figure out how it works.”
It was hard going initially because he was learning from scratch, but he persevered. “My apps can take from just two hours of work on a Sunday morning, to a whole month. It differs a lot.”
Reaching a global market
What’s impressive about Hon Cheng’s efforts is that he has decided to go well beyond the Singapore market to create apps that will appeal to a global audience, hence apps like PicShare, a photo sharing app, and NotePadLock, a way to password-protect Notes. And he’s not just released these apps on the App Store, he’s also put in language support to ensure that the apps reach a wider audience. MnemoSkinn, a checklist app, supports English and French. NotePadLock supports English, French, Dutch and Russian. Noteskinery supports those four languages plus Italian and Japanese. He’s been able to do it because people contact him and volunteer to localise his apps, sometimes in return for a free copy.
While he is obviously a veteran iPhone developer now, he is also flirting with the idea of developing for Google’s Android because he believes the way Apple accepts apps for the App Store turns developers off. Apple recently courted controversy by refusing to allow a few apps to be sold in the App Store for reasons that are still unclear.
Given Hon Cheng’s background as a developer of jailbreak apps, his position is quite understandable. In fact, Cycorder and MxTube are among his favourite apps, and they are only available as jailbreak apps, not on the App Store.
The 27-year-old Malaysian will graduate from NUS soon but he is not planning to become a full-time developer. Instead, he will be taking up a research position that he has been offered. Fortunately for the rest of us, he plans to continue developing more iPhone apps in future.
Related links
The Singapore iPhone Guide also interviewed Shen Weijia, who developed the Singapore Bus Guide, Harish Mallipeddi , developer of web app Cinepura and Jon Petersen, developer of web app iSinGeo.
External links
Learn more about Hon Cheng’s apps from his website iridianSTUDIO.
Download Hon Cheng’s apps from the App Store:
* SG Buses: Singapore bus guide. Free.
* PicShare: Transfer pictures between two iPhones on the same WiFi network. Both must be running PicShare. US$1.99
* NotePadLock: Password-protect individual notes with a six-digit password. You can set different passwords for different notes. US$1.99
* noteskinery: Allows you to arrange your notes into multiple folders with custom icons. US$4.99
* noteskinery+: More advanced version of above. Allows you to add voice recording and photos to notes. US$11.99
* MnemoSkinn: Checklist with icons for different items. US$5.99
* MnemoSkinn+: Same as above but allows you to use photos for icons. US$7.99
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