Posted by Eric Mills on Sun, Nov 08, 2009 @ 06:45 PM
“They do everything in 3’s”. For reasons I cannot explain, this is a strange line from one of the countless sci-fi novels I read in my youth that sticks with me 30 years later. As I recall, the story had something to do with a space traveler encountering a massive space station which had been evidently built and then deserted by an alien culture. The foundation of all design and function on the ship was the number 3. Three sides to all objects, three legs to tables and chairs, etc. The parting line evidently being some kind of an epiphany for the human visitor, but one that left me feeling I was missing something.
Fast forward 30 years to Intel’s Craig Barrett saying something totally obvious that again showed me I had been missing something. Barrett congealed the cacophony of competing technologies and mobile devices down to this very basic premise – going forward there will be 3 screens in the average human life: the first is a big screen primarily for entertainment. The second is an intermediate screen for the majority of our interactivity. The third screen is the recently added “mobile device” so many of us now spend so much time engaging. Our third screen will always be with us for communication and easy access to information on the go.
So EVERYONE is going to have a 3rd screen. Just look at the adoption rates for iPhones – staggering. We will all use our 3rd screen to communicate and to retrieve all types of on the go information. It was obvious to us this would change the way we all experience the world. Up to date, location filtered information wherever you go – how cool is that?
As our company began writing apps for the bludgeoning iphone industry, however, we still felt like we were missing something. People were building and downloading high performance apps OR they were serving dynamic content via webpages. Few were providing dynamic content via high performance apps. This lead us to as the question “how can we make mobile content management easy and maximize the end user experience – regardless of the mobile device?” It ended up on the whiteboard like this:
Problem Identification:
- People on the move need access to 'fresh' information and content
- Big screens, laptops, even netbooks are not practical as an in-pocket solution
- Relevant content is constantly changing based on countless factors
- Content providers want branded/customized experience for content delivery
Problem Solution: a mobile optimized content management platform
- Best of both worlds: hybrid solution of native application and backend content
- Native application with on-device content allows high performance and off network use
- Synchronizing local content with backend content ensures timely/easy updates
- Horizontal solution with countless vertical applications
- Cost Effective solution to the problem of dynamic content management and delivery
So we built the AVAI Mobile Platform, which being true geeks we felt obligated to christen “AMP”. The AMP content management system leverages the power of a browser based content management system with native applications on mobile devices. We proffer it as the perfect hybrid solution to the identified problem. Easy, straightforward, and we even offer it as a service so first costs are low. Yet 80% of the folks that engage us in discussions on mobile “aren’t ready to invest in mobile yet”. Maybe they think it’s one of those passing phases – like that whole Internet thing. Or is it me? Am I missing something again?
Posted by Eric Mills on Mon, Oct 19, 2009 @ 08:30 AM
It has been a long time coming, but we can now give you full disclosure on one of our big projects. Last week, Woodland Park Zoo became the first zoo to have it's own iPhone app. This app utilizes AMP (AVAI Mobile Platform) to provide the zoo with a content management system that serves data to both the iPhone App and a mobile optimized website.
Zoo administrators will be able to add content for years to come all from a simple web interface. This provides users with a great utility for navigating the zoo through the GPS. We plot your location at the zoo on the map right on the phone. You can pinch to zoom and scroll very easily just like a Google Map.
In addition users can use the Friend Finder feature to see their friends on the map. The app can also post to facebook and twitter so that people can share their experiences with their friends.
So far, the reviews are very positive and we couldn't be happier with the reactions we've received. Mobile apps are here to stay. They just make life better.