Soon, cockpit affair feedback on iPad

Come February, a new mobile app optimised for iPad will change the way commercial pilots working for domestic and global airlines fly their aircraft. Developed by Hyderabad-based mobile application strategy and development company, WinIT Software, the app fully automates pilot record-keeping with accessibility in or out of the cockpit.

"Typically, pilots get feedback after a flight - including the trajectory, take-off and landing - in the form of a portal. We are now moving all these to iPad with the new app, developed for a Paris-based company that provides such services to airlines. The product, which will help pilots keep track and analyse their daily flight performance and improve their efficiency, will go live in the next one month," says WinIT chief executive officer, Prakash Sreewastav.

Apart from the pilot logbook app, WinIT is also in the process of developing an app for an Abu Dhabi-based advertising company. The app pushes ads onto the mobile on your preference and then creates a gamification layer on top of the promotion. Also, an app - which facilitates scanning barcode and availing discount - for event management company, BlueFrog, is on the cards.

In the last four years, WinIT has developed over 300 custom-made mobile apps for various domestic and global corporations across verticals on software development kits of iPhone, Android, Blackberry and Windows platforms. At present, about 30 per cent of the closely-held company's clients are Indian firms.

In India, it has already delivered a mobile app for Star News, which offers news across categories besides pushing breaking news as an alert to the mobile phone users. It has also provided the Magic Bricks app for Times real estate portal that helps search homes leveraging the user's current location.

WinIT is now developing six native apps for Jet Airways to enable smartphone users to make airline bookings, avail offers, flight status, online check-ins and lounge access on the move. "We predict that more than 30 million users will consider booking for travel through a mobile app in 2012," Sreewastav says.

A Forrester Research report estimates that enterprise business opportunities for apps will grow vastly over the next four years, with corporations spending up to $17 billion in creating apps for their products by working with third-party services and companies that manage these apps.

Sreewastav says MoSoLo (instant access to data via mobile, social networking and location) is the buzzword now and anything that is a combination of these three should be a great app.

"Mobile app adoption is happening very quickly in India and the deal sizes are only getting bigger. Currently, on an average, we book around 15 new projects a month. Going by the demand, we expect to grow by 150 per cent in terms of the number of deals by this March," he adds.