Itunes App Store is full of amazing applications as well as really bad ones (baby shaking anyone?). There are an estimate 140,000+ applications available and, more and more, it becomes hard to sort through all of them and many iPhones these days look like the final resting place of unused applications that the user downloaded and realized they were rubbish but keep them installed anyway.
Being a regular traveler I’m often looking for traveling apps that give me more than the ordinary features, apps that make me curious about the places I’m visiting and that entice me to explore. Recently I was given the tip to try out “Portugal By“, a free application and I fell in love with it. Visually stunning and easy to navigate “Portugal By” features the work of six photographers’ that show us Portugal’s hidden secrets as well as a new way of looking at well known touristic places. The approach is innovative because it focus on the visual first and then lets you explore the map around it, including services like restaurants, hotels, etc.
I got in contact with Miguel Coelho, from yellowapp, one of the person’s behind “Portugal By” so he could answer some questions about the application and its future.
1. “Portugal By” was on the #1 on the Free Apps Directory on the App Store recently. How many downloads did you get so far?
After one week he reached a few thousands most of them from Portugal, United States and the UK but these numbers are growing now giving the buzz created around the application.
2. How did you come up with the idea for such an application?
I love photography and the work some photographers are doing about Portugal, especially about some of the places most of the people dontt even know they exist. As an iPhone user I thought this could be the best way to promote a country, since it can display beautiful photos, locate the places in the map and most importantly it fits in your pocket and it’s always with you (unlike other media).
3. Can you tell us a bit more about the team that developed the application?
Our base is located in Lisbon but our working team is spread around the world: programmers, illustrators, enginners, you name it. With this model we gain time, flexibility and access to specific skills and the opportunity to work with other markets.
4. How do you monetize a free application?
That is the million dollars question!!! In the case of Portugal by we will be supported with a sponsor and by the lifestyle members.
5. Are you going to port “Portugal By” to other mobile platforms? Make new installments for other countries?
For now we are working only on apple mobile platforms we are developing on an optimized iPad version, but in the future who knows! We will launch the same concept for other countries really soon.
6. When I first used the application, and being a foursquare power user, I missed the integration with FourSquare. Is this something you are considering?
We discussed that when we began this project, but we wanted an exclusive application with few, but only the best places you can find in Portugal. The concept behind is if you come to Portugal with limited time, on a weekend for example, all you will really need is a good hotel, two or three restaurants and places to discover: that is what the application delivers. All other applications, including FourSquare, have thousands of recommendations, specially in big touristic places, thus making the process of choosing one place quite difficult.
7. Anything you can tell us about future applications that you are developing?
Now we are developing an application to learn kanji in a simple and funny way and other applications for private companys.
Below you can find a video of the application but I strongly recommend you download it from the iTunes Store: it’s free and really beautiful!
Picture Credits: fxp under a CC License
Strategist, Sound Designer, Electronic Music Producer, New Media Artist, Activist, Blogger, A&R of the 
