Whizz-kids developing apps for ‘new world’

They are school kids. But they display the knowledge, maturity and aplomb of a grey-haired expert.

Sanjay Kumaran (11) is probably the youngest CEO in the world and his 13-year-old sibling, Shravan, is the President of “Go Dimensions”, a Chennai-based company that is in the process getting registered. The two siblings are co-founders of the firm, which offers “application for new world to make life easier”, primarily in the areas of education, lifestyle and convenience.

Shravan is in the eighth grade and Sanjay in the sixth at Vael’s Billabong International School, Chennai.

“We have developed apps for iPhone and android devices” says Sanjay. Shravan explains that their first app ‘Catch me cop’, had more than 10,000 downloads in 45 countries since it was made available on Apple’s App Store from January 21 this year. Subsequently, they developed three more apps, all of which are now available on App Store and on Google’s Play Store.

The second app, ‘Alphabet Board,’ got a very good review from App Store, says Sanjay. “This got around 4,000 downloads. Games get more downloads than educational apps,” he observes. “You can learn without parents’ help,” Shravan chips in.

Experiencing turbulence while flying from Chennai to New York led the tech-savvy siblings to develop their third app, “Prayer Planet.” “We wanted to pray but the idols were in the bag which was checked in. We thought it will be much easier if there is an app.” Prayer Planet became popular in the Middle East and had more than 5,000 downloads. ‘Colour Palette’, their fourth app, got a 5/5 rating in 42 comments on App Store.

Customisable tablet

“By 2015-16, we are going to develop a tablet. We are going to price it very low so that everyone in villages [can] buy it and become more techie,” says Sanjay. It would be the lightest tablet and as light and thin as a sheet of paper.

“We actually made a model. It will be a customisable tablet and pop up questions the moment you open it. [It will be customised according to] the age of the user. A six-year-old won’t be interested in having ppt [Powerpoint]. He will be interested in learning letters,” Shravan says.

Asked how they became interested in app development, Sanjay says they were inspired when their father asked them to make games instead of playing them.

They presented a paper at a two-day International Knowledge Millennium Conference, IKMC-2012: Global Innovation Exchange, which began here on Friday. It was organised by IKP Knowledge Park.

Their father, Kumaran Surendran, Director, Engineering, Symantec Software & Services India Pvt. Limited, says: “I am very proud and happy. I feel this is a new India where people are not afraid to try something on their own. I am happy that my kids are venturing into entrepreneurship at a very early age.”

The siblings have earned $200 from ads on their apps page on App Store.