Information Technology masters students will be making iPhone games and applications in a new subject on offer at Queensland University of Technology this semester.
The Mobile Applications Development course will give students the opportunity to study and make iPhone applications of the type budding entrepreneurs are selling online at the Apple Store.
The new subject begins as a trio of QUT information technology graduates have made a mark with their iPhone game Train Conductor, which entered the top 25 iPhone applications list of strategy games in 49 countries.
Course lecturer and mobile phone content researcher Dr Dian Tjondronegoro said the new subject reflected the enormous popularity the iPhone had enjoyed since it was launched in Australia a year and a half ago, and provided lots creative possibilities.
"It's a very exciting platform to play with," he said.
"The device comes with so many sensors and features, including the touch screen, GPS, compass, light sensor, accelerator, multimedia player and video camera.
"The possibilities are huge."
Dr Tjondronegoro said there were lots of innovative applications available already that students could learn from, such as Shazam, an application that can tell you the name of the song you are listening to by recording a small sample of the music, and then help you buy a copy of that song.
He said the creation of iPhone applications was one way students could use their skills to make money, as a trio of QUT graduates are doing.
The graduates and iPhone game developers Simon Joslin, Thomas Killen and Matthew Clark, known as Voxel Agents, took five months to create their application Train Conductor in their Melbourne studio.
The $2.49 game has sold more than 25,000 units since it launched in December.
Students of the Mobile Applications Development course will be trained in the new Mobile Devices Lab, equipped with the assistance of a QUT Faculty of Science and Technology strategic funding grant.
Dr Tjondronegoro is also researching how to best optimize and adapt web and video content, such as sport, news and entertainment, for 3G mobile phones in his role of senior researcher for the Smart Services Cooperative Research Centre, which has researchers operating across the eastern seaboard.
Media contact: Rachael Wilson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 1150 or rachael.wilson@qut.edu.au.
