Sixth Former's Puzzle App is a Sales Success
A Surrey Sixth Former has turned a hobby into a potential business with his puzzle-solving app that has already been purchased by over one hundred people on Apple’s Appstore.Since the 1980s, 3D cube puzzles have been the favourite on-the-go toy. Now more than three decades old, puzzles such as Rubik’s Cube, V-Cube 3, Gans III, Magic Square Cube, and Guhong continue to baffle many. A 17 year old student, however, has come up with a clever solution to these puzzles that will turn anyone into a real ‘speedcuber’, using technology most people already own or have easy access to, an iPhone or iPad.
17 year old Josef Willsher, a Sixth Former at the Royal Alexandra and Albert School, was inspired by the tricky puzzles to create an app that will solve any 3x3x3 six sided 3D cube. When not studying for A Levels in Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry and Product Design, he spends his spare time concentrating on developing and improving his app, Swift Cube.
Users can input information into the app by either tapping in colours or by taking photos of the different sides of their cube. This is then processed and instructions are given in a sleek and sophisticated interface. It makes it all very easy.
Josef started working on Swift Cube in August 2014 and by December the app was ready for the market and available on AppStore for 79p. So far, the app has been purchased by over one hundred Appstore users.
Josef originally took on the project as a hobby to keep himself entertained and challenged during the summer. He says, “It was just for fun, nothing more than that. The fact that it’s now making a bit of a profit is a bonus, and it certainly wasn’t my main goal. I’ve spent a lot of time on Swift Cube, tweaking it and improving the settings and features. I spent hours and hours on it, most of my spare time”
Josef has plans to develop other apps in the future. He and a friend are currently working on a new app, and he wants to focus on building apps that will help people. Although Josef enjoys the world of app making he has no plans to take it any further than a hobby.
Like many Sixth Formers, Josef wants to go to university and is still thinking about his future career options. He says, “I would like to go to either Cambridge University of Imperial College London, to study physics or aeronautical engineering.”
Headmaster Paul Spencer Ellis was not surprised by Josef’s achievements, saying, “Joe is an outstanding pupil. This is the young man who did astronomy as an extra GCSE and to whom I awarded a Major Sixth Form Scholarship for achieving ten A*s at GCSE. It comes as no surprise to me that he took on a project and made it a success, no matter how difficult or time-consuming it may have been. I am certain that Joe will go very far in whatever career path he chooses.”
1st April 2015
