Joy as Newbury designer's mobile app tops Irish download charts

Puffchat, created by Fir Tree Lane resident Michael Suppo, gives users up to 20 seconds to view text messages and photographs before they permanently disappear.
It is based on a similar principal to American photo sharing app Snapchat, however, it differs by extending the limited viewing-time to text messages.
It was initially launched on New Years Eve, but security issues forced Mr Suppo to temporarily remove the app from download stores.
However, upon its relaunch it achieved considerable success, said Mr Suppo, when it was ranked as the number one most downloaded mobile application over the Easter weekend, averaging at 500 downloads an hour, and 9,000 downloads a day.
It now has more than 53,000 users.
Speaking of his reaction to the success, Mr Suppo said: “I collapsed in shock, my head in my hands, my body trembling, and tears helplessly emerging.
“I had achieved the Holy Grail spot of number one in the overall chart, not just for social networking, but for the whole app store of 1.5 million apps.
“I was ahead of the greatest apps ever created - WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, Clash of Clans and Snapchat.”
Puffchat’s target audience is aged between 13 and 18.
Despite facing criticism on social media that Puffchat could create a platform for secretive relationships, or could also lead to untraceable cyber bullying, Mr Suppo said administrators would be hot on the heels of anybody misusing the service.
“Regarding bullying or abuse, Puffchat takes the issue extremely seriously, especially considering that online bullying is very easy,” he said, adding that users can only be contacted by people who they have accepted as “friends”.
Users can also remove people from their friendship list, however complaints can be lodged by emailing email support@puffchat.me.
When asked what the future had in store for Puffchat, Mr Suppo said: “I would like to keep those secret for now. I would more than likely disclose it over Puffchat.
“But my long term plans do involve penetration of the UK and US markets, and a move to San Francisco.”
Puffchat can be downloaded for free via the App Store on iPhones.