1. Mobile
developement
at The AppLab
!
Réunion des “Geeks anonymes”, 13 novembre 2013
Valentin THIRION
2nd Grade of Master in Computer Science, ULg

2. Keynote Plan
• The AppLab presentation
• The beginning: UlgOloc and rocket launch
• Development
• #iOSDev
• #AndroidDev
• Tools
• App Content (Backoffice, API, …)
• To infinity and beyond

3. The AppLab
• Unstructured structure
• 3 ULg students
• 2 Apple fanboys
• 1 Open Source fanboy
• 3 friends
• 3 inspired brains
• 3 geeks @ Home with
keyboards and mice

4. Organisation
• One manager and one designer per
project
• Facebook, Azendoo (google it, it’s
damn great!) and Google Hangouts
support
• AFK meetings
• ULgOloc HeadQuarters
• Time flexibility
• Objectives orientation
• Beta tests and lots of returns

5. ULgOloc …
• One idea
• One year of reflexion
• 3 months of hard work
• 2 Apps, one back office for
admins
• 2 weeks of beta test
• Students, professors, ulg
employees, student associations
• Some articles before availability
• WEBTV Video

6. … and rocket launch
• October 2012: JDMP
• +/- 1000 downloads
• November 2012: ULgOloc
• +/- 4000 downloads
• May 2013: Francos 2.0
• +/- 6000 downloads
• November 2013: LetsGO
Chaudfontaine
• ???
• A lot of “no’s” … (lack of time)

7. #iOSDev
• Xcode
• Apple SDK
• iOS 4.3 => iOS 7.0.3
• iPhone simulator
• Source control (Git) & DropBox
• Objective-C, C
• Learning: Paul Hegarty’s Stanford course, Apple documentation, books, …
• iPhone 3GS, 4, 4S, 5, 5S, iPad 3, Mini
• Problems:
• Differences between versions
• Apple limits

8. #AndroidDev
• Eclipse for Java
• Google Android SDK
• 2.3 => 4.3
• No simulator (too slow)
• Source control (Git on bitbucket), since GA may 2013 & DropBox
• JAVA & XML
• Learning: Google I/O, online doc
• Phones: Samsung, Sony; Tablets: Nexus, Arnova
• Problems
• Differences between version, devices capabilities and manufacturer over-layers
• Screen sizes

9. App content
• Backoffice in the cloud
• PHP mainly, JS & HTML
• MySQL
• OVH and Gandi
• API in XML (mostly “on demand”)
• Data coherence from database to app-based
storage
• Recently: want to represent data online as it
appears on apps (LetsGO)
• Data managed by admins, super users and
users.
• Real community platform

10. To infinity …
• New clients (LetsGO, journalists,
teachers, events managers, …)
• New demands (Liege Airport,
Schools in Liège, Malmedy,
kotaliège …)
• New needs
• New ideas
• Want to create a real company
• Need for proofs
• Stay in “low-cost” class
GA
(of course)

11. … and beyond!
• Increase # of users
• Increase coverage
• Increase professionalism
• Increase quality
• Use other technologies than GPS
• Do better != Do more
• Increase UE and design
And more!
MyCampus 2.0

12. “One more thing.”
LetsGO launch will lift off soon
(Chaudfontaine)
!
Request your beta account
Send a mail to dev@theapplab.be
and go to www.letsgo-be.com
Thanks for your attention
www.theapplab.be
PS: Looking for a real designer!
We need you!