Microsoft hopes to draw Android developers to Windows Phone

Microsoft is trying to woo Android application developers, offering them help in porting applications to Windows Phone.

The company has released a Windows Phone API mapping tool for Android developers to help them find their way around the Windows Phone platform. Developers should think of the tool as being like a translation dictionary, Senior Technical Evangelist for Interoperability Jean-Christophe Cimetiere wrote in a blog post.

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It has also published a white paper, "Windows Phone 7 Guide for Android Application Developers," describing the differences between the two platforms, including the way they handle inactive applications and multitasking.

For Windows Phone to become a success, Microsoft and partners like Nokia have to convince developers to add the operating system to the list of platforms they target.

Android and Apple's iOS are the most popular operating systems among developers, according to a survey by VisionMobile published this week. It found that 67 percent of developers target Android, and 59 percent target iOS.

Windows Phone is the seventh most popular platform, with just 36 percent of developers working on apps for it: More still target Symbian, the OS that Nokia is abandoning in favor of Windows Phone, the survey found, although Symbian's share fell to 38 percent in June from 46 percent a year earlier.

Microsoft has already reached out to iPhone app developers with specific Windows Phone guidance and an API mapping tool for iOS.

This summer, it plans to expand the scope of the API Mapping tools to include the features in Mango, the next major upgrade of Windows Phone.

Enterprise software developers are starting to show an interest in having their applications running across a range of mobile devices. Last week, German company Software AG acquired Metismo, developer of a platform that can convert Java apps to run natively on Android, BlackBerryOS, Windows Phone and webOS.

Adobe Mobile Application Development

Ryan Stewart, a developer evangelist for Adobe Systems will be showing how the mobile landscape has changed in the last few years and how Adobe is allowing developers and designers to create apps for the various mobile markets in weeks rather than months or years. With the introduction of the Adobe Creative Suite 5.5 and all of the tooling that goes with it developers and designers can now create applications that target the iPhone, iPad, Android and the Blackberry Tablet platforms with ease.

Ryan will speak about the tooling that is now available and the workflows that designers, user experience designers, developers and QA testers can use to deploy applications that can target multiple platforms.

Register (free):
http://tismtechadobe.eventbrite.com/

Facebook is preparing an iPad app

According to the New York Times,Facebook is finally making an official iPad app. While Facebook's iPhone apphas been in the App Store from day one, it's been a long, long wait for an iPad version of the popular social networking site. When asked about the possibility of an iPad app last November, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg reportedly said such an app wasn't in the works because "The iPad isn't mobile."

It looks like that was an ephemeral "no" worthy of Steve Jobs. According to the Times, Facebook's iPad app has been in testing for nearly a year, and Zuckerberg himself has been closely involved in its development. People familiar with the app's development say its design is "slick" and well-optimized for the iPad's screen, and it includes photo/video uploading features tied directly to the iPad 2's built-in cameras.

Thus far, iPad users unsatisfied with the way Facebook's site functions on a touchscreen-based device have had to make do with third-party applications. I've been using Friendly for iPad, but I'm still curious to see how Facebook's official app turns out. As we heard earlier, Facebook is also planning an HTML5 application platform called "Project Spartan," but according to the Times' source, that is intended to "supplement" the iPad app rather than compete with it.

Source : http://www.tuaw.com/2011/06/16/facebook-is-preparing-an-ipad-app/

Bridgepoint Education Presents a Retrospective Study of Mobile App Development Process at eLearning DevCon

SAN DIEGO, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Visitors to this week's annual eLearning Development Conference (DevCon) in Salt Lake City, Utah, learned about the creative process behind Rockies Mobile, University of the Rockies' seamless online classroom and campus app.

The far-reaching learning app was designed and released for University of the Rockies students by Bridgepoint Education (NYSE: BPI), the Rockies' parent company, and the retrospective analysis was presented by Cory Jones, Bridgepoint's software development manager. Jones explored the three-month process behind building the Rockies Mobile app, from the prototype phase to the app's introduction, including an overview of the best and most demanding parts of the process.

"The development and introduction of the Rockies Mobile app was a challenging process and would not have been possible without the talent and skill of an incredible product development team," stated Ravi Rajaratnam, Bridgepoint Education's vice president of solution delivery. "The quality, effectiveness and popularity of the application are testaments to Bridgepoint's success."

eLearning DevCon is an annual gathering of the best and brightest people employed at the intersection of modern academia and technology. The conference delivers targeted sessions on the influence of new technology on education, as well as the influence of education on new technology. More can be learned about eLearning DevCon at elearningdevcon.com.
Source : http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/339301