Wesley's Tool-Box

Like what happened last year, contents of a recent interview has just been published on a newspaper. It was with an industrial news outlet called "E2News" this time, dealing with the iPhone app I developed last August. I was glad my face was published along with the article, but sadly my last name was misprinted on the paper edition ("Cho" instead of "Chung") and that led to some confusion here and there. I requested a correction and the online and PDF versions reflect this properly.

For more details, see below.

- Online Article (Korean)

- PDF Version (See Page 6)

A couple of days ago, before end of August, Korean Power Grid Info app for iOS devices surpassed 2,000 downloads. That took only about three weeks, and considering the somewhat obscure nature of the software, I think it's selling pretty well. It's consistently present in top 50 free downloads chart in the Business category. I think the word is going out somehow, and there's always quite a bit of people who download it every day.

Now, it seems that Apple has noticed this and put the app under "What's Hot" section of the Korea iTunes App Store's Business category. That's pretty hot! I'm glad it's getting a favourable recognition. Thanks for everyone who downloaded.

A week ago, the "Korean Power Grid Information" app was published on the Apple App Store and various media outlets have been reporting on its release as you can see below (in Korean). There had been over one thousand downloads in the past five days, and the daily rank and download count have been holding steady so far.

- Electric Times, August 16, 2010 "KPX Develops Application for Smartphone"

- Korea Electric Power Times, August 12, 2010 "Power Consumption Status Now Viewable from a Smartphone"

- Korea Energy News, August 12, 2010 "Checking Power Consumption the 'Smart' Way"

- Energy Daily, August 13, 2010 "Power Consumption Status Now on a Smartphone"

- Energy Economy News, August 12, 2010 "See the Power Consuption on a Smartphone at a Glance…"

- Today Energy, August 12, 2010 "Power Consumption Status on the Smartphone"

- DP News, August 12, 2010 "Korea's Power Consumption Status Can Now Be Seen on a Smartphone"

I suppose the Korean Power Grid Info app isn't particularly interesting to the people in the United States. The rank has been steadily moving down (started at 113, now at 160). Maybe I need to find a way to let the folks in the power grid business in the US know about the app? Still, at least I can take comfort in the fact that the app will nevertheless be staying on top of the Business category for a while. The Apple has selected it as "New & Noteworthy" for the US App Store, as well. Thanks for recognizing!

ADDENDUM 12:18 - The New & Noteworthy has added a few more apps and now my app is pushed out of the first page, although it's still in the list if 'See All' is clicked. Meanwhile, the visibility did apparently garnered some interest as the rank got boosted to #109 for now. Interesting...

ADDENTUM 17:38 - Hey, it's now #95. Finally broke into top 100! Pretty cool.

Only into its third day of sale, Apple recognized the "Korean Power Grid Info" app and put it right on top of the Business category of the Korean App Store, listing it under "New & Noteworthy" section. It's doing okay on the popularity as well (peaked at #15 on the free apps in the category, and doing #16 as of this writing), so I hope a lot more people will notice and download the app for some time to come.

Meanwhile, the app is chugging along slightly below top 100 in the Business category in the US App Store. I'm guessing a few Koreans are downloading from there, which in turn keeps the rank up. An app review and listing site called PodGate is listing the app as one of the top 100 most popular. Rank floats around #92 to #98 so far.