IT firm to monetise 'paranormal' app

LOCAL IT company Daita Solutions is looking to monetise its mobile application 'Paranormal Tracks' after it has been downloaded more than 500 times from the Google Play store.

Paranormal Tracks, an "entertainment" application that allows users to pinpoint past and most recent paranormal sightings in Brunei via geo-location, will be the company's main highlight when it represents Brunei in the upcoming Asia-Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) awards, to be held in the Sultanate in December this year.

The chief executive officer of Daita, Adil Abdullah, said the Android-based mobile application took three months to develop.

"The main challenge was obviously time, as this app was solely done using our spare time as we had day jobs," said Adil, who worked together with his partner Daita's chief information officer Bernard Lim to develop the app.

Despite being newcomers to the app development game, the company already has plans to monetise the app.

"The application is currently supported with advertisements, but we are planning to release a premium version of the application for sale at an estimate of $3 to $5, on the Android Play store that is advertising free, and will have some additional features not available in the free version," he said.

The company's long-term plans include deals with other Bruneian businesses to set up affiliate deals.

"In addition we can look at potentially running paid 'ghost tours' around some of the local (sightings)," he added.

The application "contains detailed information on the sighting including the full story, pictures and comments from other users".

"They can even vote on how good they think the sightings are within the application," he said.

There are a number of ways that the users can view sightings, such as by browsing a map pinpointed with sightings where they occured.

"Additionally the can browse the new or top rated sightings, or just see the ones near them, pinpointed by the phone's GPS.

"If a user has had a paranormal experience of their own, they can report it via the application and upload images directly from either their camera or pictures that are already stored on their phone," he said.

Daita created the application out of a desire to to create something unique and different from what is available in the market.

"We noticed that Bruneians love entertainment apps, and almost everyone you come across here has at least one paranormal story. The subject of paranormal has always been present in every culture across the world and this gave us potential to expand globally with this application," Adil explained.

"Asia is an excellent place to launch this application as the paranormal is such an integral part of the culture. We searched around the market for paranormal-related apps, and there weren't any that could do what our app can. Hence, Paranormal Tracks was born," he added.

Lim said that the application won two awards at the most recent Brunei ICT Award (BICTA), in the Media and Entertainment and the "New Media and Entertainment" special award categories.

"Come December, we will be representing Brunei in the upcoming APICTA," said Lim.

Brunei will be hosting the APICTA Awards this year. APICTA is an international awards programme which aims to increase ICT awareness in the community and assist in bridging the digital divide.

The awards were hosted in Pattaya, Thailand, last year and in Kuala Lumpur the year before.

More information about the application can be found at www.facebook.com/paranormaltracks.

The Brunei Times