On December 12, 2021, the final of the 6th Mobile App Innovation Competition came to a successful conclusion. The contest was held by Apple and Zhejiang University, and IT House has previously reported on it.
After the finals of the Mobile App Innovation Competition, IT House had the opportunity to participate in an interview with Ms. Susan Prescott, Apple's global head of developer relations. Around this year's mobile application innovation competition, Susan Prescott and domestic media, including IT House, made friendly and pleasant exchanges.
At the beginning of the interview, Susan Prescott began by saying that in the process of communicating with some of this year's app competition winners, susan was amazed by their talent and ingenuity.
"We are honored to help develop the next generation of programmers in China through initiatives such as app competitions and WWDC student scholarships." "Every year, tens of thousands of student entrants hone their programming skills through this competition and learn from Apple engineers and professional developers to start successful careers," susan said. We are looking forward to their follow-up developments." ”
Before the finals of this year's mobile app innovation competition began, more than a dozen student-created software had been listed on the App Store, and IT House had also downloaded part of the previous download experience, and found that most of the works were very mature, including in the details of the experience. Therefore, there are also media on the scene asking Susan, what details of Apple provide to help students program, so that their ideas can become a shelf app?
In this regard, Susan explained that starting this year, Apple will provide a free Apple Developer Program membership for one year to help students become more mature developers.
At the same time, Apple will also hold projects such as the Swift Student Challenge at the Global Developers Conference, as well as a unique mobile application innovation competition. Through these programs, thousands of students are able to develop an interest in programming that Apple engineers, professional developers, and VCs place a special emphasis on.
In addition, interacting with like-minded students from all over the world can also help them to mature their works. Students in China can meet students from Europe or South America, the United States, etc., and in the process of communicating with each other, they can take their works to a new level.
At the same time, Susan stressed that Apple believes that everyone can program, and they are bringing the best programming resources in the world to China, for example, everyone can code, code and develop in Swift courses, and 250 universities have established iOS clubs or have iOS courses. More than 6,500 students are engaged in offline programming activities.
This year's mobile application innovation competition has specially joined the TRACK of AR, which shows Apple's emphasis on AR. There are media inquiries on the scene, Apple launched ARKit in 2017, it has been five years, so what are the new developments in AR? And how does Apple get developers to make better use of the new ARKit and make tricks?
In response to this problem, Susan said that every year Apple introduces a new version of ARKit in the operating system, and in addition to the expanding core ARKit functionality, additional technologies are added, such as the Reality Kit framework for better 3D effects, or last year's Object Capture, which creates a 3D version of an object in a cheaper and easier way, using only photogrammetry of 2D images. Apple will continue to invest in this technology, continue to support developers, and respond to their needs.
Susan also cites Object Capture technology as an example, which makes it easier for more people to create 3D objects or AR, while improving ARKit and RealityKit to help developers bring their ideas to life.
Susan specifically mentioned the ARCT application of Zhejiang University, as well as other areas such as on-site maintenance and health and wellness applications.
Speaking of the team that impressed Susan in this mobile app innovation competition, she especially praised the student development team in China:
Chinese students are world-class. Focused on using technology and innovation to solve problems, these teams have made remarkable work. For example, modernizing traditional cultures, broadening access to education, focusing on assistive functions, and the well-being of the elderly are very impressive.
In addition, Susan said she is happy to see many young women learning to code in China and winning awards in app contests and elsewhere. She spoke of a Chinese proverb: Women hold up half the sky. Susan says:
We are committed to helping all Chinese students while also promoting the advancement of young women to achieve gender equality. This year there is an all-female team, another team with only one male, and of course other teams with sex ratios. I'm excited to see the level of female participation in the competition.
IT House has been tracking and reporting on mobile application innovation competitions for many years, and has also experienced the works of many student developers, and IT House has found that the development works of these students are actually very different, some works use very complex technology behind them, which is also very deep and impressive, while others focus on using technology to solve very real problems. So IT House asked Susan, when Apple faces the special group of student developers, what aspects of students' abilities will be expected?
Susan said she also found the phenomenon, stressing:
Great apps start with great ideas. When we review these applications, innovation is the most important thing.
Susan further explained that the judging process increases the weight of the score for innovation and user experience. So, for Apple, behind the realization of great technology, it is driven by ideas. The ability to use technology is also important, but the impact of the two is different.
We want to see how apps turn ideas into reality, and see if the ideas apple is trying to convey to users can be perpetuated through apps and made those ideas something that users can really take advantage of. We see that students have embraced this philosophy.
Of course, Susan also affirms the importance of technology, which can put groundbreaking ideas into practice in ways never before. But in this competition, Apple wants to emphasize the importance of innovation, user experience, and technology to students, so Apple will take it very seriously to ensure that students understand that this is part of their application design.
Finally, the media said that many of the apps that won this year are concerned about social responsibility issues such as health or education, and wonder whether Apple will give developers some guidance on social responsibility.
Susan began by saying that many of the ideas were the students' own ideas. But as a company, Apple has been trying to present social responsibility initiatives, such as the environment. Students also have their own ideas. This year, Apple set up a special award to encourage initiatives in this regard. For example, a team inspired by the grandfather of one of the members developed an application to help diagnose Alzheimer's early. This is a great example of technology and innovation that contributes to society, assists in the treatment and reduces the burden of disease.
Through the interview with Ms. Susan Prescott, IT House has a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the mobile application innovation competition, and at the same time, Apple, as the main promoter behind the event brand, they want to convey the concepts and demands through the event, and they have also been more clearly presented in the exchange. I believe that under the support of such a concept, the next mobile application innovation competition will become more and more exciting.