The Whereis Everyone Experience
December 2nd, 2009 by Mark WhiteWe’re really proud of what we do and we like to show off our work, but at conferences and presentations we only get to reach out to a small audience. Henceforth, we will be putting up videos of projects we have been working on whenever possible so everyone can see what we’ve been up to.
Hope you enjoy this video!
Mashups and the OneAPI
July 7th, 2009 by Mark WhiteIf you’ve arrived here after clicking on a link in a Twitter message, welcome! Please read on.
Historically, providing developer-level access to any features of a mobile network has been tricky, to say the least. Even with the relevant service provisioning completed, you’re still stuck with a myriad of interfaces, standards, web protocols and security methods. And that’s just with one operator. As soon as you hit your second there’s usually a whole new set of enabler access methods to implement.
These difficulties have resulted in relatively few applications making use of mobile network APIs. Some operator groups – notably Telenor and Vodafone – have been piloting developer programs which generally formalize broader access to the various enablers (e.g. messaging, location, billing), but are still dependent on underlying platform technologies. (Orange, for example, exposes nearly 30 different APIs via their developer program!)
The GSMA’s OneAPI inititive is an attempt to revert this situation, and it is something we’re proudly supporting. Standing for Open Network Enablers, the OneAPI aims to bring network features to a much broader audience of Web and Web 2.0 developers. Practically speaking, it is a single API – REST and SOAP access methods are supported – through which developers can access services consistently across multiple operators. The project goal is to make it easy, safe, and beneficial for developers to utilise mobile capabilities in a far broader set of applications.
One of the OneAPI objectives is simplicity; it’s not trying to be a massive or overly-complex single platform that must be adopted by all. Instead it is a set of simple functions that will be accessible and friendly to any of the typical web development languages like Perl, PHP, Python and Java. A kind of mobile API for the masses, if you like.
Locatrix has recently deployed our reference implementation of the OneAPI at http://oneapi.locatrix.com and, being the intrepid former software engineer that I am, I set out today to create a mashup between the OneAPI, our favourite network operator, Chime – our social SMS solution, Google Latitude and the Locatrix XLF application service in a little PHP script. Proving that we do “eat our own dog food” (or “drink our own champagne” – with thanks to Kevin Smith), the code was built, tested and deployed in a couple of hours. By a distinctly former software developer!
The OneAPI initiative has the potential to change the way application developers think about mobile networks, and also to create genuine revenue opportunities for monetizing applications. If you’re interested in learning more about the OneAPI there’s some more material here, and I would welcome you to contact us if you’re a web developer interested in trying it out. Those in the Twitterverse can also follow the OneAPI account here, and you could also subscribe to our newsletter Position Update, which provides a wealth of location, mobile and social networking industry information each month.
Thanks for reading, and we now welcome you back to regular Twittering!
Q&A on Mobile Interaction Design
June 2nd, 2009 by Mark WhiteDesigning for mobile is a constantly evolving art, and we’re thrilled to have on the Locatrix team one of the best Interaction Designers in the business: Sherwin Huang. I recently sat down with Sherwin for a Q&A on what makes for great mobile design.
Sherwin Huang, Interaction Designer
Sherwin, briefly describe your role as an Interaction Designer.
In brief, I find creative solutions around technological boundaries, guiding and participating in production by balancing aesthetics with functionality to create a visual package that fosters user delight.
What do you think are the key issues in designing for Mobile Devices?
Uandme user experience
Applications – including the ones we create here at Locatrix – are increasingly feature packed and complex. There is always the temptation to create user interfaces that display information equivalently to what one would find on an application designed for the desktop. All this is done with the best of intentions thinking that it will allow users to have all the information at their fingertips. But doing this on the mobile is sometimes akin to trying to squeeze an elephant through a door!
The mobile differs from the desktop in that often visits are purposeful. Users to go a site on their mobile because they know what they want (and there is a context to their requirements), whereas on the desktop users follow trails and search results to a site. So in designing for mobile you aim to fulfil this contextual need as quickly and easily as possible.
We often see different mobile applications that aspire to do similar things. How do you evaluate a “good” experience compared to a “great” one?
On the desktop, we can quantify this kind utility by looking at factors like learnability (how long it takes users to reach a given level of experience), clarity of structure (time taken to find a piece of information) and satisfaction from the overall experience. On the mobile this is even more important, because users are on the move. They are distracted, they need information quickly. The equipment is often uncomfortable (small) and quite unforgiving (a slip of the thumb will take them out of the browser).
The most important questions to ask when designing for the mobile are: How will this be used? What will the users want in order to achieve their goal? How can we take the user to what they want in the shortest possible number of steps?
Answering these questions lets us produce an application with a goal in mind. The goal is to produce an application that a user can get into and use right away. Minimal learning curve. Minimal questions. Maximum results. That’s how we know we’ve got a great mobile experience!