Apple Isle, yep!

Tech giant’s kudos for Tassie app

AUSTRALIAN app makers pulled off a major coup yesterday, with three homegrown apps named among Apple’s top picks of 2018.

The Aussie creations from Tasmania, Adelaide and Melbourne were among just eight apps recognised worldwide by the tech giant as it also revealed its most downloaded free and paid apps of the year.

Experts say it bodes well for Australia’s digital industry, which is forecast to grow by more than 13 per cent this year in an industry set to rake in $157 billion by 2022.

Apple’s hand-picked choices for the best apps of the year range from the illustration and sketch tool Procreate Pocket, created by Tasmanian illustrator James Cuda with wife Alanna, to the work of Melbourne-based The Voxel Group, which created sweeping Mac game The Gardens Between.

Adelaide-based fitness entrepreneur Kayla Itsines and partner Tobi Pearce were also recognised for their work taking Sweat to the big screen, moving from the iPhone and Apple Watch to the Apple TV platform.

The top Apple award is the fourth collected by Mr Cuda under his Procreate brand, which had become a worldwide hit on iPad with graphic designers and illustrators.

Apple noted the iPhone- friendly Pocket version of the app unlocked “the power of iPhone as a tool for professionals and hobbyists alike”.

Mr Cuda said about 20 people in the North Hobart office of Savage Interactive worked on the project.

“It’s huge for us, it’s amazing to be recognised by such an amazing company who practically wrote the book on modern software design and development,” he said.

“I think the reason Pro- create Pocket has been recognised is because it squeezes all of the power of Procreate for iPad into iPhone.

“We’ve had a lot of people in the professional creative space give us feedback that they love the iPhone version, specifically because it gives you an entire professional art studio in your pocket.”

Australia punches above its weight in the app market, with IBISWorld estimating homemade apps will bring in $2 billion this financial year and grow by 13.7 per cent.

A study by American thinktank Progressive Policy Institute found Australia’s app economy employed more than 113,000 people last year.

Mr Cuda is proud to build his firm from Hobart.

“We’ve intentionally based ourselves in Hobart, away from Silicon Valley, mainly because we don’t want to be part of the typical software startup culture. We want to create new creative tools for creative professionals,” he said.