the Daily Loaf: Can you give us some background about yourself and Sourcebits?
[image-1]While I'm CEO and founder of Sourcebits, the software development company, I also a radiologist (M.D.) by profession. During my graduate studies, I came across Osirix, a popular open software Radiology Software program for the Mac. Using this software, I implemented a full Picture Archive and Communications System within my medical school, and thus began my love for all things Mac-related.
Six months after graduating from medical school, I started Sourcebits in April of 2006, and as cliché as it sounds, we started the company in a garage with just 3 people. We have grown into a team of over 120 people with offices in Bangalore, India and Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Our team now includes some of the best Mac coders and designers, some of whom have received the Apple Design Award.
We started Sourcebits with the intent of creating Mac software for medical purposes as well as general consumer applications and games. Our core business started with developing web and mobile applications for third parties. Additionally, under our own development label, Spoonjuice, we launched quite a few popular software programs for the Mac platform, including Funbooth, Night Stand, and Periscope.
Soucebits experienced a real growth burst shortly after Apple announced the iPhone SDK and we really took on iPhone development from the very beginning. We were lucky enough to get a developer license from Apple in the very early stages and since then the ride has been great fun and profitable as well. Going forward, we are planning to continue developing Mac-related software for both consumers and the enterprise sector as well as continue development for other platforms such as the Android.
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Valentine's developed by Sourcebits allows iPhone and iPod touch users to send electronic Valentine's Day cards.
the Daily Loaf: What do you think is behind the growth of the Indian IT industry?
We attribute growth in the India-based market to excellent coding skills and a good command over the English language. There used to be a stigma that outsourcing software development to India meant a lesser quality end product, but the Indian IT industry, particularly software developers, have surpassed quality expectations. Today, companies like Sourcebits are becoming front runners in the industry worldwide.
the Daily Loaf: How does this apply to your company and its products?
India's IT industry growth directly helps us in making the best products by leveraging the skills of our expert coders. We complement our experienced team of coders with a world class User Interface Design team. You can learn more about our UI team here: http://blog.sourcebits.com/meet-sourcebits-design-team
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Nerve Music Store developed by Sourcebits. NMS is just a concept of what Sourcebits can do with web development!
the Daily Loaf: What does this mean for the global IT industry and the competitiveness of companies in other countries?
I believe the terms outsourcing and country specific advantage are becoming increasingly outdated with the advent of the internet. The world revolves around the digital content market and companies are only getting noticed if they are creating top quality work. It will not matter if the developers are based in India, China, Brazil or in the USA. As long as your work stands out, you will remain competitive, irrespective of your country of origin.
We see Sourcebits as an international development company. Many of our clients come from the US, and we are continually being sought out because of the high level of quality we deliver in our products.
the Daily Loaf: Can you tell us about some of your iPhone games, products and other services?
Our development team at Sourcebits has designed and developed a number of iPhone applications and games for our clients that have been quite successful. One of the apps we developed for a client is called Knocking Live Pic Sharing, and it was already featured in the top 50 iPhone apps within the first few days of its launch.
Additionally, some of the iPhone applications created by our subsidiary group, under the Spoonjuice label, have been wildly successful and include the following:
a) NightStand: This is one of the first clock apps that came out for the iPhone, and now there are numerous versions of clock applications as other developers have copied the idea on other platforms as well. It displays a beautiful clock that you can keep bedside and includes multiple themes, alarms, etc. This app is a huge success, and to date, its been downloaded more then 2.5 million times.
b) The Plateau: This game was developed for the iPhone, Android and Facebook platforms and requires players to unravel holographic structures of orbs connected by glowing lines. The game was very well received and IGN rated it 8.5 out of 10.
c) Fun Booth: We developed this application for both the iPhone and Mac. The app uses face detection and lets users apply fun props to any picture. This app was featured on the App Store as a staff favorite.
You can find more information about our iPhone apps here: http://www.sourcebits.com/iphone-development-sdk-programming-services/knockinglivepicsharing
[image-4]"Mac Games Arcade is a revolutionary digital download application that allows you to browse, download, purchase, play and maintain Mac games, all in an easy to use Mac interface. This is developed and designed by Sourcebits as a native mac application for Mac Games Store Inc."
the Daily Loaf: Is there anything else you would like to get across to our readers?
We here at Sourcebits have developed and launched over 70 mobile applications for our clients (almost 50 this year alone), and the pace at which we're releasing apps is only quickening. It's truly exciting for us to be on the forefront of the new mobile economy.