dipchand bihari
post news network
Bhubaneswar, June 10: ‘Recycle’ and ‘Reuse’, the two mantras of environment protection, could well apply to software, too. Fourteen-year-old Saswat Nayak apparently believes in this dictum and is proving himself right.
His start-up named ‘Apperb’ redevelops out-of-use android applications and relaunches them with added features at the ‘Apperb Store’. The new avatars of the apps are more popular than their former selves.
Saswat is a Class X student of Kendriya Vidyalaya No-1 Bhubaneswar and started Apperb two months ago along with friends. The Apperb team has already redeveloped 16 applications and games so far.
“We collect unused or outdated open source license applications from Play Store, Windows and iOS and add features to them. For instance, we have just redeveloped ‘map app’ and added features that give users more information about a particular place. If someone is looking for a coffee centre in Bhubaneswar, the app will not only provide the location but also websites, contacts and distance from home, among other details,” Saswat claims.
The redeveloped applications can be downloaded from the website ‘APPERB’ free of cost. Apperb Inc is now Google certified and has already uploaded its official mobile app on Google Play Store.
“We have redeveloped the game ‘bounce’, which used to be compatible only with Nokia phones. We modified the code and the software such that it can now be played also on any android phone,” Saswat said.
Around 4,000 users have already visited the website since launch and 1,300 of them are already using Apperb’s redeveloped applications. Many users are getting these apps from the official website and the start-up has also garnered many followers on social media platforms Twitter and Facebook, besides Google Plus.
At present, the Apperb team is 15-members strong, and all are interested in software development. “We are not well-versed in app development, but we believe we can improve them with our own ideas. We assess the basic functionalities of an app and improve these through ‘App Redevelopment’. We call ourselves ‘App Redevelopers’ and Apperb as an ‘App Redevelopment Group’,” Saswat said.
According to the young founder, Apperb has created an android studio at which they modify applications and give them new features. Although Saswat is keenly interested in software development, he dreams of becoming a doctor. “I am fascinated by software engineering but would like to become a doctor. My parents, too, want me to be a doctor but I will work on software development alongside,” Saswat said. He also plans to redevelop applications from iOS and Windows in future.
