- Do you think iPhone, iPod or iPad are the future of gaming? Will you keep concentrating on these platforms or are you planning to expand?  We want to reach as many platforms as possible. We’re out on Palm WebOS, the Lite version is in beta on Android, and Symbian^3 will follow soon. iPhone and iPod have played a significant role in bringing about the current boom of  mobile gaming to the masses. Apple products are a strong part of the future of gaming, but definitely not the only part. The MeeGo platform is another one that shows a lot of promise. We believe there will be a number of successful platforms out there, and we simply want to be everywhere.  - What do you do to get noticed at App Store at first place?  First of all, make a brilliant application, get preliminary success by promoting it on smaller markets, get positive reviews and feedback and generate a lot of buzz on Twitter, Facebook and such, and eventually try to present your application to Apple for getting featured. The last step might not be successful on the first try, but when you know you have a strong app, it is not unwise to keep pushing it.  - Is mobile design process is any different? There are always the special constraint and opportunities of the mobile context to take into account. For example, we need to take into account the required attention span and any interruptions and distractions in the rhythm of our games. However, any design process naturally needs to take into account the platform and the context of use, so the mobile design process from concept through iterations into the finished article is no different than any other.  - What’s your favorite app? (No, you can’t say Angry Birds ( : ) iMovie is one of the best user experiences around. We like how Apple products such as Pages and Keynote show how tablets are real productivity tools for creating and working, rather than simply consuming.  - Do you prefer XCode or any third party programs? Yes, we use XCode to build our applications for Apple products.  - We believe that people still haven’t got how to rocket iPad, make wonders with it? Do you think will we wait long for it?  iPad is still in its early days, and we haven’t reached the critical mass of users yet. We don’t think it’s about a single application or in general applications or a lack of them. People will take time to adapt into the new paradigms of computing. The iPad is paving the way for general proliferation of tablet computing. It might take a while before tablets become more common than traditional laptops, for example. But we genuinely believe that this is the future of computers, even if the change comes around gradually and takes some time.  - What’s your thoughts on trends at mobile apps industry? Where are we going? What is likely to boom in near future? What are your predictions? Gaming will grow and become even more mainstream. When we look at Angry Birds, we have so many players who state they never play any games, or haven’t touched a game before, but can hardly put the game down. Angry Birds is one of the leading products in expanding the marketplace and we hope we will make the market better for others. In other trends, like we said before, we expect much more on productivity tools, as the performance of smartphones and tablets allows for much more capable software for different tasks such as image editing, for example.  - What do you look at when you are hiring or having interns to Rovio? A combination of talent, experience and passion. We’re really keen on employing driven people who show a certain amount of love towards their work. It does not hurt if you enjoy playing Angry Birds!  - Lastly, do you know anything about Hyper Island? If you do so, what do you think about us and our way of learning/working? What would Rovio think about being our guests here in Sweden and talk to Hyper people about what you love and do? We know Hyper Island by name and very generally, we are not very familiar with the details of the various programmes. We would be delighted to get more insight about what’s going on at Hyper Island and talk about what we do in the mobile space. Currently, we’re very busy in developing the Angry Birds universe further, but when our schedules allow, a visit will definitely be on our agenda.

- Do you think iPhone, iPod or iPad are the future of gaming? Will you keep concentrating on these platforms or are you planning to expand?
 
We want to reach as many platforms as possible. We’re out on Palm WebOS, the Lite version is in beta on Android, and Symbian^3 will follow soon. iPhone and iPod have played a significant role in bringing about the current boom of  mobile gaming to the masses. Apple products are a strong part of the future of gaming, but definitely not the only part. The MeeGo platform is another one that shows a lot of promise. We believe there will be a number of successful platforms out there, and we simply want to be everywhere.
 
 
- What do you do to get noticed at App Store at first place?
 
First of all, make a brilliant application, get preliminary success by promoting it on smaller markets, get positive reviews and feedback and generate a lot of buzz on Twitter, Facebook and such, and eventually try to present your application to Apple for getting featured. The last step might not be successful on the first try, but when you know you have a strong app, it is not unwise to keep pushing it.
 
 
- Is mobile design process is any different?
 
There are always the special constraint and opportunities of the mobile context to take into account. For example, we need to take into account the required attention span and any interruptions and distractions in the rhythm of our games. However, any design process naturally needs to take into account the platform and the context of use, so the mobile design process from concept through iterations into the finished article is no different than any other.
 
 
- What’s your favorite app? (No, you can’t say Angry Birds ( : )
 
iMovie is one of the best user experiences around. We like how Apple products such as Pages and Keynote show how tablets are real productivity tools for creating and working, rather than simply consuming.
 
 - Do you prefer XCode or any third party programs?
 
Yes, we use XCode to build our applications for Apple products.
 
 
- We believe that people still haven’t got how to rocket iPad, make wonders with it? Do you think will we wait long for it?
 
iPad is still in its early days, and we haven’t reached the critical mass of users yet. We don’t think it’s about a single application or in general applications or a lack of them. People will take time to adapt into the new paradigms of computing. The iPad is paving the way for general proliferation of tablet computing. It might take a while before tablets become more common than traditional laptops, for example. But we genuinely believe that this is the future of computers, even if the change comes around gradually and takes some time.
 
 
- What’s your thoughts on trends at mobile apps industry? Where are we going? What is likely to boom in near future? What are your predictions?
 
Gaming will grow and become even more mainstream. When we look at Angry Birds, we have so many players who state they never play any games, or haven’t touched a game before, but can hardly put the game down. Angry Birds is one of the leading products in expanding the marketplace and we hope we will make the market better for others. In other trends, like we said before, we expect much more on productivity tools, as the performance of smartphones and tablets allows for much more capable software for different tasks such as image editing, for example.
 
 
- What do you look at when you are hiring or having interns to Rovio?
 
A combination of talent, experience and passion. We’re really keen on employing driven people who show a certain amount of love towards their work. It does not hurt if you enjoy playing Angry Birds!
 
 
- Lastly, do you know anything about Hyper Island? If you do so, what do you think about us and our way of learning/working? What would Rovio think about being our guests here in Sweden and talk to Hyper people about what you love and do?
 
We know Hyper Island by name and very generally, we are not very familiar with the details of the various programmes. We would be delighted to get more insight about what’s going on at Hyper Island and talk about what we do in the mobile space. Currently, we’re very busy in developing the Angry Birds universe further, but when our schedules allow, a visit will definitely be on our agenda.

Tags: interview rovio angry birds hyper island sarper erel