Code first: sleep later: burning through cold pizza and caffeine with the future kings of software

Latin Trade, Jan, 2004 by Patricia Nazario

Internet access, business information. a diet plan or a video game soon will be in the palm of your hand--that is, if you have the right cell phone.

The technology that's transforming wireless phones into mini-computers and freeing workers chained to desktop computers is being created by millions of young developers who write code for fun, like Argentine Lucio Torre. "I need to code," says Torre, a 27 year-old in baggy jeans and an oversized polo shirt. "On my weekends, I want to go home, sit in front of my computer and code."

Torre is the president of software developer Movilogic in Buenos Aires. Two years ago, he wrote the program that put Movilogic on the map, a rotating grid of Argentina's capital city that allows users to search for cash machines and restaurants, among other applications. "We wanted people to know our name so we developed software they could use. It was a hard solution, too, because there were a lot of details to make it go fast enough," he says. "Now everybody in Argentina knows Movilmap."

Since 2000. about 40,000 users of Palm handheld devices have downloaded the free version of the map. Three hundred more have paid US $13 dollars for the recently released upgrade, making Torres one of a handful of successful open-source software writers in Latin America.

Torre got his first computer at age 10, started writing code at 12 and sold his first program at 17. Growing up, Torre says, he spent most of his weekends with friends programming. They would write code until they fell asleep in front of the computer and woke up the next morning only to continue. Years of working through the night for fun prepared him for real life as a programmer. "We had to reach a deadline, so I did 40 hours straight without sleeping," says Torre. "I just wrote coded, drank hot Coca-Cola and ate cold pizza."

From Mexico to Argentina, most young developers describe a similar obsession. They are typically between 20 and 35 years old, own a small software company and have been writing code for about five years. One advantage is earning dollars while paying operating expenses in their country's lower value currency. But Latin America's programmers also typically earn 80% less than their U.S. counterparts. "The most I ever sold a program for is $200,000," Torre says. "We have to be cheap enough. If Argentina is not cheaper, why hire?"

Rapid fire. Why indeed, when you can rent? Worldwide, software writing for small devices is booming. Handset makers and telecoms, however, are backing a viciously competitive open-source model. Rather than hire research and development people up front, they're betting on many minds to come up with the next big hit for their hardware. U.S. handheld maker Palm is working with about 10,000 independent developers and Finland's Nokia has a group of I million developers creating next-generation programs.

Open-source software gives programmers access to read, redistribute and modify the source code for a piece of software. This method fosters the speedy evolution of software because developers can improve it, adapt it, and repair bugs. In the mercurial world of cellular phone software, this cycle is as fast as the culture it serves: This week's game or communications application call go out of fashion quickly.

Dean Fresonke, CEO of ClearSky Mobile Media, a telecommunications outsourcer that also develops phone software in partnership with Nokia, estimates that his team in Orlando, Florida must go from concept to marketable software in six months, or lose, either to a faster competitor or to fading interest among users.

It can be cutting edge, and as old as postcards: ClearSky recently launched a service that takes pictures snapped with camera phones and sends them, along with a typed message, to U.S. office supply store Office Depot, which creates and mails the picture as a postcard and sends the postage bill hack to the customer's telephone account. A similar service is being developed now by ClearSky across Latin America. "We can't do a traditional market analysis. We have to turn something fairly quickly," says Fresonke.

To keep developers motivated, design competitions are held. The next big thing in Latin America will he sending text messages to a machine in order to participate in television promotions and contests without connecting to the Internet, says Cesar Castro, Nokia's Business Development Manager for Latin America. "Its already happening in Europe and in the U.S.," he says.

Chances are, even this is already pass& and the next idea is sprouting on the mobile Web, turning over cellular minutes and making money.

Patricia Nazario * Buenos Aires