In brief
The 2019 contest highlighted apps that connect with more devices, integrate voice interaction and combine developer kits with polished design. Previous winners had moved into teaching, entrepreneurship and work at Apple, while university programmes offered practical preparation.
“In the past, we may have regarded students’ competition apps as ‘projects’. But now they are more than projects—they are complete ‘products’,” said Chen Wenzhi, a professor at Zhejiang University.
The finals of Apple’s “Mobile APP Innovation Contest” (mobile application innovation competition) concluded at Zhejiang University in late October. Touring the venue, Business Next found that student developers’ concepts, development and design were becoming increasingly well rounded, whether they had studied multimedia design or taken up app development out of personal interest.
As this was a competition, these young developers also needed to keep up with current trends to win over the judges. Could their entries offer a glimpse of the next developments in app design among iOS developers?
One Apple device is no longer enough: apps need to connect with more devices
“A clear trend in the competitions over the past two years is integration with other devices,” observed Lin Jieyu, head of Studio A’s teaching department. An app that connects to two different devices, or even integrates with external equipment, offers more ways to use it and has a better chance of standing out.
For example, this year’s first-prize entry from National Taipei University of Education, “從前從前”, lets children draw and create their own characters using Apple Pencil. Lung Hwa University of Science and Technology’s “Fire Scene VR” launched in three versions: a mobile app, AR and VR. By placing a phone inside a VR headset such as Google Cardboard or a Xiaomi headset, users can use the VR version with headsets from multiple brands.
Voice takes centre stage: “Hey Siri” becomes essential
Whether driven by the smart speaker market or increasingly mature voice assistants on phones, voice has become a new generation of human–computer interface.
Many student teams considered integration with Siri. Returning to the example of “從前從前”, once children have created a story, saved it in the story library and given it a title, they can listen more easily simply by saying to Siri: “Hey Siri! I want to hear the story of Snow White and the Seven Germ People.” Siri will automatically open the app and tell the story.
More developer kits, greater attention to design
“This time, it was not just about app design. For their presentations, students used many different developer kits to make their demos richer and easier to understand,” Chen Wenzhi noted.
For example, “ARKit” was particularly popular, with countless entries featuring AR functionality.
The social app “愛拼”, designed by a University of Hong Kong team, lets users see markers for events and landmarks set by other users over the live camera view. At the same attraction, they can even view photographs taken by other users from their own perspectives.
Chen Wenzhi emphasised that he was pleasantly surprised by the attention to interface design. Students in previous competitions often overlooked it, but this time more than 80% of entries paid attention to visual design and improving the interface’s appearance. “A project does not necessarily have to consider these things, but a finished product—a complete, mature product—should.”
Competition winners launch app businesses, while students gain practical experience with Apple on campus
Ge Yue, Apple’s managing director for Greater China, saw the competition as an excellent bridge between students and the working world. Among first-prize winners from the previous three years, three students had gone on to teach at higher education institutions, while another three had started businesses using the products and apps they developed for the competition. Some had even gone on to work at Apple’s headquarters.
In mainland China, a number of universities have received Apple certification and established an iOS Club, giving students access to Apple resources unavailable on a typical campus and more practical preparation for becoming iOS developers.
In Taiwan, Apple entrusted Studio A with implementing and managing this major responsibility of working with schools. In August 2017, Feng Chia University finally passed Apple’s multiple rounds of review to become the first RTC (Apple Regional Training Center, Apple’s regional education and training centre) in Greater China. It would also take responsibility for training qualified Apple programming instructors across Taiwan.
In November 2018, Tamkang University became Taiwan’s second RTC. According to Studio A, Chang Jung Christian University and National Dong Hwa University were also actively applying. “There is currently one in central Taiwan and one in northern Taiwan. We hope to establish centres in the south and east as well,” said Cheng Yinglong, general manager of Studio A.
Original article URL: http://bit.ly/32XRiqo