Sigma Infosolutions developed an iPhone application for a North American company that connects users to utility service providers across North America based on the requested service and user location. The application allows users to search for and bookmark service providers. It also sends notifications to shortlisted providers who can then contact the user. Sigma Infosolutions overcame challenges like testing on Indian networks and implementing push notifications to create a robust application.

1. Built an iPhone Utility application from
concept to an end product
for a company in North America

2. Sigma Infosolutions leveraged its
expertise on web based technologies
and iPhone SDK 3.0 to develop an
iPhone application along with its web
engine for a company in North
America.
The iPhone application now connects
its users to a comprehensive
database of utility service providers
across North America, based on the
type of service requested and the
nearest location of the user. Built on
GRAILS, the application extends
numerous customization capabilities
to both users and service providers.
The client is a funded technology product start-up with a vision to develop
iPhone applications that are meant to ease people’s lives. The client is based
in NorthAmerica.
The ClientExecutive Summary
The client wanted to build an iPhone application, that will enable its business
users to connect with a comprehensive network of utility service providers
ranging from plumbers, carpenters, electricians, to many more across North
America. The iPhone application connects to a back-end web engine to
search for service providers by type of service, time, and location nearest or
preferred by the user. It will then notify the short-listed service providers
through e-mails and SMS. The service providers can then choose to get in
touch with the user either through e-mails or SMS.
The application will also allow users to bookmark favorite service providers
for future reference and also rate them on multiple parameters.
With this vision, the client approached Sigma Infosolutions to build this from
concept to an end product.
Business Case
sales@sigmainfo.net
Challenges
A robust end product was critical towards building a strong revenue channel.
Indian telecom service providers support limited features of an iPhone. This,
was becoming a major road block when testing the application on an iPhone.
Adding to this, many iPhone features that are critical for accurate
functioning of the application were not getting executed on iPhone
simulators.
Another major challenge faced by the team at Sigma Infosolutions was to
normalize all US time zones to ensure user request notifications reach the
service providers only during the time duration selected by them.
The application supports non-iPhone service providers, and they have an
option to send a reply back to the requesting party through e-mails. Since,
third party e-mail service providers attach their own headers to an e-mail,
this threw up another challenge at the team. The application had to be
designed to extract only the relevant information from e-mail replies, and
then pass it on the user's iPhone through Apple's push notification server.
Also, the team had to ensure timely delivery of notifications from service
providers to users and vice versa.
Obtained 100%
accuracy in
reverse
geocoding
“

3. Technology
The team used the following tools and
platforms to develop the application:
 iPhone SDK 3.0
 Grails
 Grails Captcha plug-in
 Grails Mail plug-in
 Grails JMesa (with filtering) plug-
ins
 Message Media SMS service
provider
 Java APNS library
Business Benefits
The client achieved the following
business advantages:
 Astrong new business opportunity
 A competent and a trusted
offshore technology partner to
execute all development tasks for
future product enhancements
Solution
Sigma Infosolutions had an existing skill set and processes for this
development project. It took five months for Sigma Infosolutions' dedicated
team of five to design, architect, develop, and test the 1st phase of the
application.Afew of the salient features of this application are:
 Providing users and service providers to manage their profiles right
from their iPhone and also the web interface
 Inbuilt e-mail and SMS capability to allow users to send messages to
other application users
 Built 100% accuracy in identifying the locations based on the geocodes
received from iPhone
 Allows users to change the location by entering city, state, and
optional zip code to get location-wise listing of the service providers
 Successful implementation of push notifications using APNS - for both
iPhone users and service providers
 Multithreaded data fetch from the web component to iPhone
application to speed up loading
www.sigmainfo.net

4. About Sigma Infosolutions
“
 Sigma Group, an Indian conglomerate has more than 4 decades of experience in Mining, Chemicals Manufacturing & Export,
Handicrafts Manufacturing & Exports, and Software Development
 Sigma Infosolutions is a TUV certified ISO 9001:2008 and 27001:2005 company
 Headquartered in US with presence in India
 Some of our esteemed customers include Airtel, Zyme Solutions, Yodlee, Celerity Consulting, Resolution Economics, Birla
Global Asset Finance, Fosroc Chemicals, Surgery Planet etc.
 Sigma Infosolutions’ services comprises of application development, application management, IT Consulting, Offshore testing,
and Website and Portal Development
Multithreaded data fetch from the web component
to iPhone application to speed-up loading
by almost 30 percent
Sigma Infosolutions, Sigma Towers, #66/A, 13th Cross
6th Main, JP Nagar, 3rd Phase, Bangalore- 560078
Telephone: +91-80-40865100
Sigma Infosolutions, 2082 Michelson Dr.
Suite 100, Irvine, CA 92612
Telephone: +1-714-717-1826
Fax: +1-866-405-6750, Toll Free: 1-888-861-7360
Website: www.sigmainfo.net
E-mail: sales@sigmainfo.net
Toll Free: 1-888-861-7360