September 27, 2011
By Richard McCormack

On the back of International Week of the Deaf observed last week local application developer AppCRAFT is the first to bring a sign language application to the Nokia Ovi Store, underlining the company’s commitment to local application development and highlighting the need for applications that benefit the community and the disabled.

According to Simon Botes, founder and owner of AppCRAFT, his inspiration for developing the app was the fact that he saw there were no existing applications available for deaf people. As he has a number of deaf friends he decided to develop a sign language application specifically designed to benefit them.

Botes says,” Our earlier research found that there was nothing for the deaf in Ovi Store. It was with this in mind that we created eSign.”

The eSign app aids people in learning the South African sign language SPELLING, using flash card style games. The free version of the app also contains adverts which can help to fund future developments of this nature.

Botes says local application development is, generally speaking, “Alive and well in SA because there are many talented developers locally.” He says it’s great to see other developers following AppCRAFT’s example like Sign That Song & My Pet Signs and he hopes to see many other apps developed for the deaf in coming months.

“The good news though is that not everything is done for a profit and we are currently working hard on an S40 WebApp version which will launch into Ovi by month end. Watch this space for progress.”

Botes says his company has seen just short of 40 000 combined downloads of the free Sign Language apps in 194 countries. “We hope that tapping into the vast S40 market will help us to reach many more people living with hearing disabilities and hope that our applications can benefit the lives of many more in future”.