iPhone and Windows' developers

As reported by a couple of local sites last week, Christchurch-based Jade Software Corporation Limited is currently running an internal competition to develop iPhone applications.

Jade is a New Zealand specialist technology research company with offices overseas. The development organisation has over 30-years experience supplying software solutions and services, including enterprise solutions for organisations.

Jade's scalable cargo-management system handles logistics, and there are other solutions for human resources and more. If you're interested, check the site.

The point is, Jade is a well established software developer with a global presence. But it's not an Apple developer by any means. Jade has traditionally developed for the PC and Windows platforms.

However, John Ashcroft, Jade's chief innovation officer, wanted something to get the company's developers excited and thinking outside the square and to encourage staff to think more like entrepreneurs.

Ashcroft decided the iPhone, with its considerable buzz and somewhat fervid app development, could create the incentive needed.

As a result, Jade launched an internal program for its developers to learn the iPhone SDK and to develop some apps to be made available on the iTunes' App Store.

The new incentive reflects Jade's market strategy to take developers through micro product lifecycle stages, from prototype to marketing, and how important this mix is to make a good product that is also a successful product. Jade wants to start the product design process from a 'human-centric' perspective so that, as a result, people will use products because they want to use them.

Since launch, staff members have creating different applications for Apple's iPhone. Once finished, the applications will be uploaded to Apple's online App Store. The person or team with the most downloads will win an iPhone paid for by Jade for two years.

The prize is worth $3300 as Jade is quite prepared to give up to three iPhones away if the winner happens to be a team. Once the apps are uploaded for vetting by Apple, Jade will run a leaders' board before announcing a winner on February 5th.

Andrea Hastie, an innovation marketing consultant at Jade, considers the project "a bite on the wild side", in that it is introducing Apple and OSX technology. Jade may be the largest commercial development community in Australasia, but "Traditionally Jade has operated on Microsoft and PC platforms, so the introduction of Apple software and systems has been exciting new territory, to say the least."

It has also been an interesting PR exercise, generating considerable curiosity. The corporation was surprised at the interest from both the local community and the IT fraternity, and has been fielding numerous tips from developers and 'great App ideas' from the general public.

Jade has invested about $250,000 into the project, but that was mostly in staff time, including six days worth of design and technical training given to over 75 staff to learn how to code and create apps for iPhone OS 3. This was delivered by Otago University, which was organised by Renaissance Corporation's Apple Division.

Over 15 developer teams registered to take part, with great secrecy being maintained between competitors.

Jade is not moving to an Apple platform, by the way. The Christchurch company just thinks it would be ignorant to ignore Apple's appeal and likes keeping up to date with the latest hot technology. That the iPhone itself seems an attractant to staff is also a considerable draw.

The developers

So, now the scheme has been underway for some weeks, what do the Jade PC/Windows developers think of Apple's Software Development Kit (which is free, btw, but you need a Mac to run it)? And what do they think of the Apple hardware?

Andrea says the project has bought up the common debate: Microsoft and Mac.
"Interestingly, the mouse caused the most concern, which is relevant considering Apple has just launched its new touch mouse!"

I imagine this is due to the fact that many PC users still think the last Apple mice was still single-button. Steve Jobs swore he'd 'never make a three-button mouse', but Apple both did and didn't: the Mighty Mouse had the buttons, all right, but they were hidden under the smooth shell.

Yes, people, you can do a right click on the right and a left click on the left, and yes, the outcomes differ. Of course, the new multitouch mouse (for which the software update is out but as yet, there have been no sightings of the device itself) has really developed this concept with dozens of capacitors under the shell giving extensive 'multi-touch' capabilities.

Hastie says the Jade developers were impressed by the iPhone as a device. For the SDK, they really liked the emulator function in XCode.

Some liked the refreshing change the competition represented, saying it makes a refreshing change to be developing something that isn't mission critical: "It's OK to get silly with this device."

With the Macs, they were really impressed there were no crashes, hang-ups or restarts in the 75 man-days of developer training! (Could that have been said of PCs?)
Referring to the Macs used for developing; "The Hardware looks cool!"

Another comment was "Great to get some of the longer-standing [Jade] developers working in a completely different environment."

We await with baited breath the outcomes of Jade's iPhone development.

- Mark Webster mac.nz

Pictured above: Apple's patent files reveal the multitouch mouse with haptic feedback.