Chennai Developer Reimagines the Calculator, Wins Apple Design Award

It was a surprise which Raja Vijayaraman will never forget. When he packed his bags for Apple WWDC from Chennai, Raja has no idea he would be on stage and will receive an Apple Design Award on 1^st day of the developer conference. His app Calzy, which is an elegantly designed calculator application, had been picked up by Apple officials for the awards and Raja had been flown in to San Jose without being told that he is going to be win. So there Raja was on stage in his Rajnikanth T-shirt with the world watching his reimagining of the calculator.

“I had no idea. I thought I would be meeting people at WWDC,” says the unassuming man from Chennai. In fact, Raja’s story is a fascinating one. A mechanical engineer from Theni, he switched over to VFX a few years on and moved to Chennai where he worked on a few movies, even some starring Rajinikanth himself. “That’s when I bought my first iPhone and used apps. I taught myself about apps and even learnt to code,” says Raja, who is not sure if his time as a graphics artist is helping with his design thinking.

It is a out of box thinking concept behind Calzy that is blowing everyone away. In fact, Raja’s calculator is as simple as a calculator can be and there is nothing there that does not need to be there. He’s also added an expression view, where you can see all the steps which anyone wants to follow. There is a scientific calculator too, but hidden away behind settings which is pulled up with the help of a 3D touch. The Calzy 3 app is priced at the cost of Rs 159 and is available only on iOS, but across works across all Apple devices from the Mac to Apple Watch. In fact, the app from Raja’s WapleStuff works as a Today Widget and even an extension to iMessage as well.

One of the important and interesting feature is the bookmark option for earlier calculations you might have done, along with the ability to put those behind as a password. Also, everything about the app is modified and you can even set a button to calculate a specific amount of tax.

Calzy was first launched in the year 2014 and the latest version is fully new with respect to UI. He also added that he was flooded by requests for adding some of the more features, but he is certain he wants the app to be simple. This calculation is clearly working for Calzy.