USPS Publication Number 16300
T h is C o m mu n i t y N ewsp a p er is a pu bl ica t ion of E sca m bia / S a n t a Rosa B a r Assoc ia t ion
Se r v i ng t he Fi r st Jud icial Ci rcu it
Section A, Page 1
Vol. 18, No. 38
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September 26, 2018
1 Section, 8 Pages
Developing an App in Pensacola? Challenging but worthwhile By Will Isern
Since the rise of the modern smartphone, mobile applications have changed the way we live our lives. Communication, entertainment, banking and even romance can all be had at the touch of a screen. At just 10 years old, the mobile app industry has grown to be one of the world’s largest. Total app downloads topped 175 billion worldwide in 2017 and consumer spending on those apps exceeded $86 billion, according to a January report by App Annie. Development of these apps has typically been associated with the high-tech meccas in which they were born, especially San Francisco. With the right set of skills, however, app developers can and do work anywhere, including Pensacola. From professional development studios to small do-ityourself teams, local app developers create apps for small businesses, large corporations and universities and the public. Some of these local developers include App Innovators, Hail Studio, Janusz Chudzynski and the husband and wife team of Marcus and Maria Vlahovic. When it comes to developing apps in Pensacola, they say the actual work is no different than it would be anywhere, but that being in a smaller market does limit job and networking opportunities. “The market is definitely very small,” Chudzynski said. “I think a few years ago when apps were new, everyone wanted an app for this or that even though most of them didn’t make any sense. It was like if you were a business you needed to have an app. That was
kind of the golden age for app developers, but it’s not like that anymore. So when you have a small business you have to do everything because the market for apps is just so small here.” Even so, Hail Studios and Chudzynski have worked with 2K Sports, a nationwide video game publisher, to develop an app that allowed players to use a photo of themselves to create an in-game character. These kinds of jobs are few and far between, the developers said. “We got a lot of requests for apps, but it seems to be only a small percentage of people who follow through with it,” said Ralph Haynes, owner and lead developer at Hail Studio. “I think with budgets being a concern people choose not to do them because there’s a bit more involved with apps than there is with web.” More often, these developers work on smaller projects for a targeted audience. App Innovators, based in Tallahassee with an office in Pensacola, worked with the multi-national engineering firm Danfoss to create that company’s “Turbo Tool” app, which they use in the field to show potential customers the benefits of their products in real time. They also created the web app EventOwl, used by a number of large companies including Gulf Power to manage events such as conferences and seminars. The company’s founder Dustin Rivest said he’s seen the industry shift from companies seeking public-facing to more internal tools. “I think the landscape has changed more towards businesses and organizations trying
to figure out ways to use tech for a variety of data points,” Rivest said. “We have a lot of businesses come to us saying, ‘We have a problem, can you fix it?’” Finding success for many of these developers has meant diversifying to offer a range of related services. In addition to app development, Hail Studio focuses on web development, hosting, branding and design, where demand is more robust. Likewise, Chudzynski does most of his development on the side through his company Izotx LLC while teaching app development to students at the University of West Florida. On the other hand, it is possible to make it on the back of one great app if your target audience is almost anyone. The Vlahovics’ have found success among individual users who have adopted their nutritiontracking app, Nutritrack, for its slick design and deep set of features. Nutritrack lets users track their diet and can suggest foods to provide nutrients that the user may be lacking. The app can be tailored to meet the specific dietary needs of an individual user whether they be on a high-protein athletic diet or have certain dietary restrictions, like Marcus, who is gluten-intolerant. As the Vlahovics developed the app throughout 2017, they envisioned California as the place to be to make it in the app world. So in August 2017, the couple moved to Los Angeles and began taking meetings with industry insiders and venture capitalists in hopes of generating backing ahead of their launch. But they quickly became disillusioned with
California and, after launching the app in March, realized they didn’t need the industry support to see success. The Vlahovics’ big break came just weeks after launching the app when Apple featured Nutritrack on a curated list of “Apps We Love.” Downloads skyrocketed and the Vlahovics became profitable for the first time in their young development careers. The Vlahovics recognize that they were very fortunate. Recognition by Apple is the dream of many aspiring developers. Rivest said many successful developers might spend more time and resources marketing their app than they did developing it. “Developing an app is one thing,” he said. “Getting it out there and getting recognition and getting downloads is another thing. You could easily spend twice as much in marketing your app as in developing it.” Without the need for venture capitalist backing, the Vlahovics decided to return to Pensacola. Today more than 50,000 people have downloaded Nutritrack, Maria said learning to build and manage the app on their own in Pensacola was difficult but worthwhile in the end. “Somewhere like here there aren’t many resources to go out to if you’re looking to develop an app,” she said. “You have the internet and that’s about it. So if you’re looking for that, you’re going to have to learn and fail on your own. You can get to the same answers, but it might take you twice as long. So that’s one of the downsides, but the upside is that once you
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go through that trial and error you can be self sufficient.” While there may be greater opportunities and resources elsewhere, there are benefits to being in Pensacola as well, the developers said. Rivest said his company has been contacted by clients in larger markets who have been deterred by the high cost of development by firms in those markets. “We have people out west contact us because the prices are so high out there,” he said. “And the reason prices are so high is because the cost of living is so high.” Haynes also cited the lower cost of living as a benefit of being in Pensacola, and said the barriers to connecting with out-of-market clients are less imposing in the age of social media. “Pensacola is a great place to live,” said Haynes. “We’ve got beautiful beaches and the cost of living is a lot lower than a lot of places. Also, we don’t necessarily need to be in a bigger city to work with some of these clients in bigger cities. There’s other ways to make those connections, through social media like following companies that might be potential clients and making those connections virtually. Looking ahead, the app market is only going to grow larger as the populations in emerging countries like China, India and Brazil gain wider access to smartphones. Consumer spending on apps in 2018 is expected to top $110 billion, according to another App Annie report. It’s unlikely that those consumers are going to care much whether an app was created in San Francisco or Pensacola.
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