Nick doing a spot of bantha hunting
As part of our continuing Spotlight series, we recently caught up with Nick Parfene of Tmro, creator of popular Wellington bus schedule app WelliBUS, and learned how it only came about (like many things, I suspect) after a jolly good nagging from the missus.
Could you tell me a little about yourself and how you came to code WelliBUS. What were the drivers behind developing it?
My name is Nick Parfene, I am 29 years old, I was born in Romania and I emigrated to New Zealand in 2005.
WelliBUS was never supposed to make it to the App Store. The real reason why I wrote this app is because my partner kept asking me to build it! We both have iPhones and I had been doing iPhone development for almost a year at that point so we both knew it could be done. One day I got tired of the nagging and decided to spend some time to build this application. I believe I started working on it on a Friday evening and it was ready by Sunday. That’s when I thought that I had finally found my peace. Well, I was wrong! People around us found out about it, others started asking me for it on Twitter and so on. After adding a couple of people to my iPhone development team and after updating the provisioning profile I decided it was going to be too hard to give it to all those who were asking me for it so the simplest option was to put it in the App Store where anyone could take it from. Before I knew it Greater Wellington Regional Council found out about the application. We met and they seemed very grateful that I was going to release the application for free. The reason why I did not want to charge for the application is not because it did not take long to build but because I wanted it to be my contribution back to the community. I love Wellington and the life I have found here and this was the least I could do. Sounds a bit melodramatic but it is the bare truth.
Although in Wellington one can use txtBUS (disclaimer: I was part of the team that built txtBUS in 2005 – 2006 while at Synergy International, now Fronde Systems Group) not all buses display their stop number clearly, or some don’t have it at all. Even more so, you might happen to be somewhere where you cannot possibly have access to this information (e.g. a park nearby, a bar, etc).
Is tmro a full-time gig for you, or is this a hobby – what other pies do you have fingers in?
Tmro is not just a playground. Tmro has been involved in some high profile projects for New Zealand and International customers (cannot talk about them because they have not all been released yet) and there are plans to release a couple of products in the near future that are completely built by Tmro.
I work 4 days a week for Fronde Anywhere and the other 3 days + all the evenings for Tmro. At Fronde Anywhere I am a Product Specialist. One could say I am a Jack of all trades in a way. I build mobile apps (JavaME and iPhone) server side applications (JavaEE) set-up systems (DB, Web Servers, etc), I do trainings for our customers, I participate in trade shows (CeBIT in Germany) and much more. I started Tmro only a few months ago because I wanted to see some ideas come to life. Fronde Anywhere is active mostly in the financial sector and does B2B while my ideas are more consumer oriented. Just to be clear I am not an iPhone gold miner. Tmro builds not only iPhone apps but also Android and JavaME applications talking to JavaEE backends.
What made you decide to launch an app for the iPhone and how did you go about it? Was it written in-house or did you get a third party involved?
Like I said the reason the app was launched for the iPhone is because my partner has an iPhone. No 3rd parties were involved in the development. The “testing” was all domestic although I did allow one Twitter follower to have a sneak preview before I released the app in the public domain. I didn’t really get any feedback though…
How successful has the app been in terms of uptake and has it in turn had a positive impact on the rest of your business?
I believe the word I am looking for is crazy! The app is crazy successful. I have seen it second in the Navigation category and has been used thousands of times. There are over 200 sessions a day and I think this speaks for itself. I would have to say the application has given me more exposure. I am unable to quantify the impact it has had on the rest of the business. I see that the website hits have gone up 4 times since I released it but I wouldn’t be able to say if it is because of it or not. I have received incredible feedback from people. To give you one example a mother has told me that she bought her daughter an iPod touch so that she could use this application! The part that amuses me the most is when somebody I know who has an iPhone comes to me and recommends me the application!
What is the long-term strategy for Tmro and the iPhone – do you see it as a viable business platform going forward? Have you made your millions yet?
Tmro is preparing to launch a product that has been in development for a few months now. An iPhone application is at the very core of it although there will also be an Android and a JavaME version. At the moment iPhone development is an important part of what Tmro does but that is because the customers have been specifically asking for iPhone applications. I wish I kept a count of how many people have told me that they were going to build an iPhone application because they had “the” killer idea of an app that was going to make them rich! I have not made my millions but I did manage to upgrade my MacBook Pro (Lucky bugger! -Steve). Jokes aside I believe the iPhones are here to stay and I also believe that iPhone apps will soon become like websites. Most companies will want some sort of presence in the space which is just another reason why Tmro exists.
Do you use an iPhone personally? How do you use it in your personal life, do you enjoy gaming etc or is it purely for business?
I do not play games on my iPhone. The only one I do play is Chess but that’s a different story… My iPhone is my Internet hub: I use it to stay up to date with my emails, calendar and contacts and social networking. I have my music on it and I never walk my dog without it! I use a plethora of applications (I have 8 screens of apps). Most of them are very specialized: ebook reader, web server (file sharing), weather apps, kitchen utils (cocktails and recipes) Music streaming etc.
Thanks for your time, Nick and good luck with your business!
– Tmro
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