This is big. Old City based
appRenaissance is changing the game in mobile app development with the release of its new platform Artisan. Now in private beta and due to roll out publicly by January 2013, Artisan allows non-developers to create, change and test mobile apps without having to learn to code. Relying on the cloud, Moul terms Artisan frontend as a service.
It's all about native mobile applications, which are the kind you download to your smartphone, as opposed to mobile web apps, which are websites optimized for phones and tablets. Until now, native mobile apps were static. You download them onto your phone and they pretty much stay as is until an update rolls out. Artisan allows these apps to become dynamic, opening up a whole world of possibilities.
"Today, if all you wanted to do is have the background of your app be green on St. Patty's Day and pink on Valentine's Day, you'd have to get a developer go in, change the code, recompile, and then put out an update in the app store," explains Bob Moul, CEO of appRen. "With Artisan, a publisher, retailer, or ecommerce professional can do it themselves. The change is instantaneous. You can deploy the revised app without putting it back in the app store."
This is all well and good for background color, but let's do a wide pan and consider the implications for advertising. Suddenly, instead of a static app on your phone, Artisan creates the option of an ever updated experience. A retailer can change advertisements or special offers on a mobile app at will. All this talk about advertising in the mobile space is now a reality with Artisan. And appRen is the first to create this technology.
You may recall that Michael Raber, grad of Dreamit Ventures Fall 2011 and inventor of UXFlip, joined appRen
earlier this year . Turns out UXFlip is at the core of the Artisan platform, according to Moul.
Analytics and flexibility that have been available on websites for some time will now migrate to mobile. Artisan tracks every user interaction and gesture in the application to provide insight into app utilization and user behavior.
Regular people will have the power normally reserved for the geekiest, creating and testing multiple user interface designs and flows. Depending on audience response, Artisan can offer the best performing designs to all users instantaneously without the need to recompile or resubmit the application to app stores.
The reaction from businesses has been outstanding, says Moul, who plans a subscription model based on company size, number of apps, users and volume, and will run anywhere from $1K to 12K per month.
Source: Bob Moul, appRenaissance
Writer: Sue Spolan