Mobile App Company Started By Wayne Residents

Hani Shabsigh was fed up with his job. He wasn’t happy with his chosen vocation. So, instead of complaining, the 25-year Wayne resident decided to do something about it.

Shabsigh and his friend and investor Ibrahim Khaddash founded Fun Factor Apps in March of this year. The company creates applications for mobile devices like iPhones.

Shabsigh taught himself how to create and program applications. He purchased several programming books and found tutorials online.

The company’s first application iACTaFOOL was released on the iTunes App Store on Sunday. The application lets users play video charades in an Instragram-style application.

Users record videos of themselves acting out a specific word. Videos are then posted for others to see. A user’s score is based on the number of likes, dislikes, or guesses that a video receives.

“Initially it was supposed to be a one-to-one game, but it developed into so much more than that. It’s much more engaging,” Shabsigh said. “We want users to create socially-engaging videos.”

Videos are stored remotely through an online server — similar to an iCloud account.

“The whole concept of the ‘cloud,’ that really is a breakthrough for entrepreneurs,” Shabsigh said. “You could make a game that’s simple where your videos are shared with one person, but the game we’ve made is very complex because you can share your video with people all over the world.”

Shabigh said he developed the application for less than $5,000.

“You really can create an application for not too much money if you take the initiative and invest some time in it,” Shasigh said.

Although it is free to download, users can make in-app purchases to buy more complex words or extra time.

“Right now we have no plans to launch other applications, but we’d like to expand in the future,” Shabsigh said. “It’s amazing really. This started out as something that I could teach myself and learn on my own and it’s turned into something really great.”

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