Blogging from appsworld
| November 30, 2010 | Posted by admin under Conferences, iphone, Learning Technologies, Mobile Learning, Web Services Blog |
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Hugh will be attending appsworld today to find out what’s new in app development. For more information on the event check out the apps world website, the blog or Twitter #appsworld.
PS I was intending to blog during the day but relied on the WordPress iPhone app. I created a post, saved it and published it – all fine, but when I came back to edit it, none of my changes were being saved.
The event was at London Olympia (Olympia 2), I attended the Developers Zone (free to attend) session on App design and creation. There was a good range of speakers from a wide range of companies.
All speakers spoke about the need to apps to be cross platform (Blackberry (big with 16-19 female teenagers), OVI (Nokia), iPhone and Android (getting bigger and bigger by the day). Interesting they said that the iPhone app store was not used a great deal for finding apps, word of mouth and advertising were most common methods. Interesting example about Angry Birds, it’s sold on iPhone/iPod for 59p but on Android its free (with ads), they can make more money this way. They have 6 million total sales on iPhone compared with 1 million sales on Android in one day – very big in Asia market. Grapple representative gave his views on developing apps saying don’t rely on top 100 model, try and get your app featured and stick to usual marketing methods.
Adobe gave a good presentation of software to help build mobile software, lots of things in common with Apple’s xcode, except it looks like all other Adobe products so should be easier to pick up. Adobe AIR enables developers to use HTML, JavaScript, Adobe Flash® Professional software, and ActionScript® to build web applications that run standalone without the constraints of a browser. Adobe AIR is a development environment for the delivery of applications across devices and platforms. Support for Android™ BlackBerry™ Tablet OS and iOS* mobile operating system, and TVs is now available. (except the iPhone is not supported).
Adobe InMarket is a distribution service that lets you bring your applications to market, reach consumers, and make money. They are working with several store partners to provide the widest distribution possible for your applications across devices. You receive 70% of the sales revenue; Adobe and its partners take care of credit card processing, hosting, and marketing. InMarket makes it easy to publish and manage your applications across stores through a centralized portal.
Appcelerator was mentioned as an open source application development platform for creating native mobile, tablet and desktop application experiences using existing web skills like Javascript, HTML, CSS, Python, Ruby, and PHP.
There weren’t too many exhibitors, some big names, mainly small independents. The quality of the stands was quite basic, lots of nice comfy bean bags to sit though! There were a couple worth noting:
Appshed
Build a multiplatform app for just £475. This could all be done via a website. I had a demonstration, it looked quite good. You wouldn’t be able to edit the code but there was quite a range of tools to choose from.
Live Code (Runrev)
LiveCode empowers you to develop applications that run in any environment, using a fast and easy compile-free workflow.
mVenture
Online DIY App Builder for £45 per month. They specialise in developing iphone applications but can build apps for Blackberry, Windows, Symbian or Android platforms. Examples include an iPhone meeting planner for the conservative party conference, a windows mobile application that works in conjunction with another product to detect narcotics and explosives at airports and most recently, an iPhone app for sports including golf training and snowboarding.
But I’m not sure solutions like these will last term. They look good and will get better but will probably get bought out by the likes of Adobe and Co.
On the whole, a good event, mainly based on marketing, commercial app development and not educational content but mobile development it still in infancy.
Useful terms to research further (GetJar, Adobe Inmarket)
