Interview with Takayuki Fukatsu, famous App developer

Two of my all time favorite apps for the iPhone are QuadCamera and the TiltShift Generator. They are both designed and developed by the wiz Takayuki Fukatsu and today I made this interview with him.

Tell us a bit about yourself?
I’m a freelance iPhone/Flash both designer and developer. I was working for a Japanese web design company called tha.jp for three and a half years as a Flash designer / developer.
While working, I released three or four apps including QuadCamera. After that I quit my job and became freelance and spending most of times on my apps.

How long have you been into creating apps?
I have been developing since iPhone got iPhone 3G, two years ago.

Can you tell us how you came up with the ideas for your apps?
When the iPhone was released, many people said that the iPhone’s camera was crappy. However I don’t believe that resolution or other complex features are important.

Therefore my first project was making the camera’s cheapness valuable. I built an app called ToyCamera, that randomly applies an effect to a picture. I wanted to show people that uncontrollable and cheapness is fun!

What kind of hardware do you use for developing?
I usa a Macbook Pro, two iPhone 3G, two iPhone 3Gs, one iPhone 4, and two iPads.

What has been the hardest obstacle to overcome with developing your apps?
Studying Objective C. My primary language is ActionScript and the problem is that Mr Jobs hate Flash

What has been the most fun part with developing your apps?
Definitely prototyping. And checking whether the concept works or not.

How much time do you have to spend on user support and app updates for new iOS versions?

Usually, I spend one to two months to support all of my applications. Half is for supporting new features and the rest is for backward compatibility.

How many hours would you estimate you have spent on developing an app like Quadcamera?
The first stage is just 2 weeks. Now the version is 3.0 and I’ve made more than 10 updates for improvement and optimization.

What new features would you like to see in the next generation iPhone?
More flexible WiFI and USB control.

What’s next, do you have any new apps in the pipeline?
TiltShiftGen for Free is ongoing and will be out 24th Aug. I’m also making a big iPad app but that is a client project and I cant talk about it yet.

Thank you very much for the interview! You can read more about Takayukis apps over at artandmobile.com or his blog, blog.artandmobile.com.