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Name: Daigo Wakabayashi Company: Rakko Entertainment Location: Hokkaido, Japan Apps: FastEver, FastEver XL, FastEver Snap Website http://rakkoentertainment.com Twitter: @rakko_ent |
Bio
Daigo Wakabayashi runs his development company, Rakko Entertainment, out of Hokkaido, a northern island of Japan. Daigo is a solo entrepreneur — writing code and doing graphic and UI design. He started developing iPhone apps two and a half years ago, after quitting his job at another company, and now works for himself full-time. One of the very first apps he developed — FastEver — is also his bestselling. It was built on the Evernote API.
I’ve been an Evernote user since January 2009. As a user, I wanted to be able to write down my memories faster, so I developed FastEver in response to a need that I had. FastEver was launched at the same time as I started Rakko Entertainment and was extremely well-received. It also inspired the creation of another app, FastEver Snap, which allows users to take quick snapshots, save them to Evernote and resize them so they’re easier to view inside of Evernote. All of the Evernote apps I’ve built address needs that users have requested.
Evernote is packed full of features, but there are users that want to be able to do certain things very quickly — without even launching the Evernote app. FastEver (and FastEver XL for iPad) is a very simple app that lets you take quick notes and save them to your Evernote account. FastEver Snap launched in August of last year, largely in response to FastEver user requests who wanted to take photos, but wanted to decrease the amount of space and upload time their photos required. For most people, Evernote images are a way of ‘noting something’ — the quality of the photo isn’t so important. I wanted to make snapshots captured in Evernote easier to look at on any screen, and send faster.
Evernote’s API was very easy to work with. I was drawn to developing on it because, as an Evernote user, I was eager to create my own tools to customize my experience — and the experience of other users. It’s a powerful platform that offers a lot of flexibility to developers.
When FastEver was first launched, it was covered in a number of Japanese iPhone review websites, which was how many Japanese Evernote users found out about it. When FastEver was featured on the Trunk, U.S. users immediately noticed and started buying the app. The product’s Japanese user base also expanded substantially. Being featured in the Evernote Trunk provided a huge boost in sales. Both FastEver and FastEver Snap sales are going strong.Why would someone want to develop on Evernote? How does it make sense, financially?
The Evernote user base is growing at a staggering rate and I believe that developers can build a very viable business on the platform. The most successful and well-received apps that I have developed are, by far, the ones built on Evernote’s API. In sum, there have been 50,000 downloads of the FastEver apps, which are priced at $1.99 – $3.99 (for FastEver XL). Today, my business is my full-time job — the apps I have built on Evernote’s API have allowed me to focus on my passion for building apps that people want and love. I’m able to impact users’ lives in a positive way.
What Evernote features inspire you as an app developer?
Having remote storage and accessibility from anywhere makes many ideas possible and understanding how people use Evernote is at the core of building apps that expand and better their experience.
What advice do you have for other developers looking to explore Evernote’s API and build apps?
Be an Evernote user and interact with your users; ask what they are trying to do and get feedback about your apps. The most important determinant of how successful your app will be is how well you can meet the users’ needs. It’s critical to look into how people are using Evernote and how they could be getting even more out of it.
How do you use Evernote?
I have Evernote installed on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. I take note of almost everything, but I use Evernote a lot for my business, actually. I save ideas that people share with me of ways they use Evernote — these inspire me to to come up with the apps that I build.
Visit the Evernote Trunk to learn more and download FastEver, FastEver XL and FastEver Snap.
Evernote Trunk Conference and Developer Competition
Want to develop an app on the Evernote platform? Learn more about the Evernote Developer Competition. We’re giving away $100,000 away in prizes to developers who build the next great Trunk apps. It all leads up to The Evernote Trunk Conference, a one-day event packed with sessions, workshops and discussions to help you learn how to take advantage of the Evernote platform.
