Stuart McDonald is the founder and publisher of the popular online travel guide to South East Asia – Travelfish.org. Recently they have made the switch from selling downloadable ebooks to iPhone applications and in their own words: “This app doesn’t supplement a guidebook, but replaces it.” Some application developers have become millionaires overnight with the success of their applications.

For people who don’t own an iPhone or maybe even a smart phone, can you tell us what an application actually is?

An application is a program that runs on your phone. In our case the apps are similar to electronic books in that you can swipe from page to page to get information, look at photos and so on.

Previously on your site Travelfish you were selling downloadable ebooks, what made you take the decision to switch to iPhone applications?

There’s a lot we can do with iPhone apps that we can’t with PDF guides. For example the app contains hundreds of high resolution photos to show Bali at its best, interactive maps to help you find your way around and reams of text to keep you informed. The end product is far more useful than a PDF book.

How difficult is it to get an application approved by Apple?

As long as the programming is solid, it is just a waiting game. The Bali app took about a week for Apple to approve.

With the success of the iPhone and stories of developers becoming millionaires from selling their apps, the iPhone has apparently become a competitive marketplace. Is marketing your application any different from what you would normally do to promote an online business?

It is an extremely competitive market and with considerable downwards pressure on prices unless you’re willing to do a lot of loss leading, there is limited scope to “market” apps in the traditional manner. Obviously we push the app through Travelfish.org, Twitter and Facebook but other than that the only marketing has been through chasing traditional press for coverage. The Jakarta Globe ran a story on the Bali app at the start of the week for example.

If someone has an idea for an app but has no idea about programming, can they still get their app developed?

Yes, but they will need to work with a developer. The coding is quite complex and I’d describe it, at least for now, as a specialised field. One can either work with a developer to build something from scratch or there are some template-style apps that people can populate with their own information with little programming knowledge required — quality can be quite variable in this regard though.

In a previous newsletter, I talked about the success authors are having publishing for the Kindle. Do you have any plans to perhaps create your guides for the Kindle?

We’re talking about it — I need to buy a Kindle first!

Can you give any tips or advice for anyone thinking about developing an iPhone app?

Two things. Keep your expectations under control. The vast majority of apps in the store probably sell less than one copy a day. Gaming is one area where there is a serious amount of money being made, but that is now often cornered by bigger players. For some though, apps can be a reasonable income stream as a part of a larger business.

Don’t underestimate the time it takes to put the app together. We thought it would take 6 weeks to build our first app, when it fact it took six months.

Can you please tell us a little bit about your application you created for Bali? Is it just for tourists or is it useful for expats also?

The Bali app is primarily a travel guide. It covers over 20 destinations on the island, from the popular destinations like Kuta and Ubud through to lesser known spots like Munduk, Medewi, Pemuteran and Nusa Ceningan. It includes reviews of over 300 guesthouses and hotels, 150 places to eat and dozens of activities and attractions. There’s interactive maps, a photo gallery and also a detailed introductory section covering history, culture and so on.

It is primarily aimed at visitors to Bali, but would also be of considerable use to expats living in Bali who are looking for guidence on weekend breaks and so on.

How can people download your Bali travel app?

It’s available in the iTunes Appstore and you need an iPhone to be able to use it. Regularly selling for US$8, it is currently on sale at $0.99 till next Monday.

You can read more about it here http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/bali/id450179078?mt=8

Tune Hotels have opened a new hotel in Kuta. I go down to Kuta every so often for shopping and a change of scenery, so I might consider staying there some time in the future.

I am checking out their website now. The booking interface is similar to booking an airline ticket on a budget airline, where you choose from different options depending on your needs.

Here are some of the options you get and the prices. This is for a double room, where I selected it for two people.

Air Conditioning (12 hours credit) IDR 49,500
Air Conditioning (24 hours credit) IDR 82,500
Towel Rental + Free Essentials toiletries kit (additional IDR30,000 refundable deposit will be collected upon check-in) IDR 16,500
Wireless Internet Access (24 hour period) IDR 77,000

I could probably bring my own towels to save a bit of money, but I would prefer to have wireless internet. 12 hours credit for air conditioning is probably enough.

The total cost is 126,500 for one night on November 20, which is pretty cheap for hotels in the area. There is no pool however and it doesn’t include breakfast.

Made’s warung sangat popular di kuta, selain tempatnya yang klasik makanannya yang kebayakan asli menu indonesia membuat saya rindu masakan rumah. Tapi kalau mau makan ke warung ini, ada baiknya kamu datang sebelum jam makan siang atau jam makan malam. Karena biasanya tempat ini akan penuh dengan pengunjung yang mau makan.

Bahkan kebanyakan pengunjung rela antri untuk bisa makan di tempat ini. Pengunjung yang datang bukan hanya asli pribumi tapi juga turis – turis asing yang antri menunggu pengunjung lain meninggalkan meja makannya. Makanannya memang enak dan harganya juga terjangkau.

Beberapa minggu lalu saya berlibur ke pantai kuta. Kuta yang di kenal sebagai tempat surfing, dan pusat souvenir bali. Kuta adalah lokasi pariwisata yang banyak di minati oleh turis terutama bangsa australia atau biasa di singkat dengan sebutan Aussie, karena selain murah untuk berlibur, bali juga tempat yang asik untuk surfing bagi kebanyakan turis asal Australia. Kebanyakan wisatawan yang asal negara sendiri berlibur ke bali untuk berbulan madu, atau untuk berbelanja. Selain bisa bermain di pantai, beberapa siswa/ siswi pariwisata juga bisa praktis berbahasa inggris dengan beberapa turis yang ramah dengan masyarakat sekitar.

Satu hal yang sangat saya sukai adalah melihat indah nya bali di saat Sunset menjelang hingga sunset itupun tertutupi kabut malam. Benar – benar keindahaan yang alami. Buat kamu – kamu yang sudah pernah main ke bali,silakan untuk kembali lagi di saat luang. Dan buat kamu – kamu yang belum pernah ke bali, silahkan menikmati indahnya Sunset di pantai kuta yang indah.

I am in Kuta right now, finding a decent place with free wifi has taken me a little while. Possibly because I really haven’t felt like using my computer too much since I arrived in Bali.

I have created a page with a few places with free wifi that I have been to so far.

Gloria Jeans in Kuta Square seems to be the best so far. The lounge upstairs is very comfortable for doing some blogging. The coffee shop is Australian owned and managed and even has “Aussie meat pies”.

I was reading in the Bali Post that the construction of a nightclub has started on the site of the former Sari nightclub that was destroyed in the Bali bombings in 2002.

An Australian group had been planning to buy the land and build a Peace Park on the site. The Australian government was even planning on giving them the money to purchase the land. A total of 202 people died in the bombings, including 88 Australians.

A memorial was build on the site of the former Paddy’s Pub, listing the names of the people who died in the blast.

The land owner, a Jakarta resident, leased the land to person who already runs several nightclubs and restaurants in the area. I suppose it is about money, but the Australian government was ready to spend a couple of million dollars on the land. Perhaps the financial crisis changed their plans.

Other than the beach, there aren’t any public parks in the area, so it would have been a nice shady, place to relax and many people would argue another nightclub in the area is the last thing Kuta needs. A nightclub would provide a few more jobs for the locals, but it’s not like it will have a huge economic impact.

I am using the free wifi at Coffee Bean in Kuta, Bali and the internet is crawling and there is just one other person here using it.