1. Why do you want to join MailTime and what’s your plan of implementing this iOS version?

Ken: I wanna join MailTime because I do think that the whole idea for MDT ecosystem among MailTime, blockchain and big data is very completed. I do think that it has a future. Also, personally, I like to discover more and more different and cutting-edge technology, not just iOS or Android development only ,and I think that I can get from here. The plan for iOS version is to make iOS cloud version launch as soon as possible first. After that, I will plan to do a revamp on this project because iOS MailTime app development got started a few years ago, and the programming language and frameworks used are outdated. This revamp for the app can make future development more efficient and also make the tech up to trend.

2. Which app you have developed is the most important one to you?

Ken: Talkbox. I like Talkbox because that was a cutting-edge product at that moment. Push and talk. It is extremely handy.It was a successful app in the mobile market and I am glad that I was one of core developers in the team. That team was giving developers freedom to input ideas and brainstorm together. I was enjoyed working in that kind of environment that we worked like buddies to each others. Of course, the app finally made a successful noice in the market.

3. What was it like in 2007 to be an iOS apps software engineer?

Ken: To be the first generation developers working on iOS apps is really not that easy because the whole thing from Apple is not mature at the beginning. Documents were not enough and their iOS was also not stable. What we could do was research, research, research and test, test, test. If you got bad luck, you would encounter some methods in the code from their SDK having bugs, then you need to wait for them to update their SDK. This kinds of situations are very common at that moment. I think at the moment, the most biggest obstacle for people to doubt about apps is the cell phone. In 2007, cell phones were very small and people felt weird to have a mobile phone as big as an iPhone. Of course, time can prove everything. The public are taking big phone on the street playing around their apps now.

4. Why did you go to Australia for college and why chose Computer Science?

Ken: I didn’t see computing is interesting when I was in high school in Hong Kong, until in high school Form 6. When I was in Form 6 and went to Universities open days, I found that programming is very cool and smart after their demonstration. I was afraid that I couldn’t get into University in HK, so I discussed with my parents to study overseas when I was in high school Form 6. Finally, it turned out that I failed Chinese subject in Form 7 open exam. Chinese is a prerequisite subject to pass for getting in University in HK. Therefore, finally I went to Australia for Computer Science. Why Australia? There were four places to choose actually — US, Canada, Australia and England. U.S. had 9/11 around that time. England is too expensive to live. Australia is comparatively comfortable than Canada.

5. Why are you passionate about developing apps?

Ken: Mobile device is really dominating our life heavily. If an app developed by me is popular among the mass and also influences them, that will be very joyful for me and also make me feel fulfilled.

6. How do you usually spend your spare time?