A group of York students has won the opportunity to have their very own I-phone application developed after winning The App Challenge final, held at the Ron Cooke Hub on Wednesday, January 18.
YUSU Welfare officer Bob Hughes has warned students to be vigilant after a student loans phishing scam has been revealed.
Her Majesty the Queen will be visiting York on Maundy Thursday, 5th April, as part of the 800th anniversary of York’s Charter for the traditional “Royal Maundy” ceremony.
A flood caused by a heating system “failure” forced the university IT services to shut down many essential systems on Sunday night, causing problems for many students on the eve of their exams and assignment due-dates.
Mark-Ross Smith and Sam Rowley will release their free application in January 2012, aiming to provide users with up-to-the minute, localised information on events, club nights and bar nights.
The application, for IPhones and Androids, will also give users access to exclusive promotions and deals for events, including discount entries, queue jumps, drinks deals and discount taxi fares for the ride home.
Smith and Rowley, both fourth year undergraduates studying Computer Science, came up with the business venture a couple of months ago, keen to form their own company in the web and app sector.
After initially intending to begin their project after graduation, they have brought forward their plans and have linked up with clubs and bars across the city, ready for their launch in the coming spring term.
Smith said: “We are both extremely business driven and have experience in the field, so this seemed an obvious choice. Sam raised the topic of producing our own applications, and mentioned an idea he had thought of a number of years ago.
“When I heard his idea I knew that it could be a potential success, and quickly we began building on the initial concept of an event application. From there the project blossomed and Sam and I realised that we couldn't let the idea slip our grasp and decided to begin the project prior to our graduation.”
Smith added that a lot of hard work and preparation has gone into the project but that it has been “very exciting”.
“As we had always envisaged, getting in touch with clubs and bars is a difficult and time-consuming process,” he admitted. “However, it has been well worth it. The application has been built and is ready to be launched on the various application markets.
“We both know that the immense time and effort that has gone into this business already will pay off in the long run, and we hope to further this project for years to come. More than anything, this project has been immensely exciting and fun to work on.”
The keen entrepreneur also revealed that the business duo has big plans for their company in the future as they hope to eventually expand nationally.
“As students of the University of York, myself and my colleague intend to launch the application in York, aiming our marketing campaign towards students at both the University of York and York St John,” Smith said. “Our marketing campaign will feature some exciting promotional events of our own at some of York’s most popular venues.
“However, this is only the beginning. We aim to wrap our business around this product and develop many more for the market. Following a successful launch in the York area we would aim to spread the application out to further cities and eventually, allow the application to be a UK based app.”
The launch of the ‘What’s On’ application in the spring term will be accompanied by several events on and off campus, flyering, giant bar crawls, flash-mobs and there are even plans for a town crier throughout the term.
To find out more about the ‘What’s On’ application, visit their website, find them on Facebook or follow @whatsonofficial on Twitter.
Sounds like a really good idea now waverun seems to be dead.
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