2010 is coming to an end, and it was an excellent year for akosma software! We would like to thank all of our clients, service providers, partners and friends for the trust and the business! We wish you a great 2011 and we remain at your service as your partner of choice for your software needs.
We are thrilled and proud to share with you a few highlights of 2010 below:
iOS Projects
To put it bluntly, during 2010, the business around iOS has simply exploded. The iPad has brought a tremendous amount of interest, money and business to the iOS platform, where many companies are looking for ways to provide services, leisure and information through the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touches available throughout the world. Games, newspapers, brands, service providers: having an iPhone app is as important as having a website!
These are the applications developed directly or jointly by akosma software, released through the App Store or the web for worldwide distribution:
iPhone
This iconic and magnetic device amazes and fascinates more and more people every day, and sets the pace of the whole industry:
- Danske Bank, the most important banking app in Scandinavia, which has been #1 best seller for months and one of the most popular iPhone applications of 2010. This incredible application was developed jointly with Trifork GmbH.
- Parmigiani Fleurier, the Swiss watchmaker, has published a gorgeous iPhone application showing their exclusive collection of watches. This app has been jointly produced by akosma software and RGB Productions.
- Mnesia, a new concept in to-do lists, introduced by Trifork Switzerland GmbH.
- Thierry Weber, one of the most prominent european podcasters, published his own iPhone application too!
- Senbei, the one and only iPhone client for the groundbreaking Fat Free CRM open source application by Michael Dvorkin.
iPad
The iPad has been a tremendous success, and not only has akosma software brought to Switzerland the first iPads in April, we have also been actively involved in important projects for this device:
- swissinfo.ch, the iPad application of the official Swiss news broadcasting service, introduced by a great viral video that has been showcased in many different news services, like TUAW, CNET, 20 minutes and the Huffington Post!
- digital2.0, a collaboration between Moser Design, VPS Prod and akosma software, serves as an introduction to the many capabilities of this new device.
Universal (iPhone & iPad)
The creation of “Universal Apps” for both the iPhone and the iPad has special quirks, particularly when targeting iPhone OS versions prior to 4.x; we have published a popular article explaining our findings and our techniques to streamline the creation of such applications.
- Le Temps Sortir Dîner, an exclusive restaurant guide created for the Geneva-based newspaper Le Temps, developed jointly with Trifork GmbH.
Web App Optimized for iPhone & iPad
Web apps, based on HTML5, JavaScript and CSS3, can be customized and enhanced for iOS devices; we have teamed up with our partners and friends of Zerofee in London to create a unique web app for the iOS platform:
- Dezeen Watchstore Web App, featuring an innovative and timeless watch design.
Consulting and Training
In akosma software we provide many services, among which consulting takes a place of choice; we’ve provided countless hours of guidance to many businesses in Switzerland and abroad, explaining them various aspects of the distinct dynamics of the iOS platform. Among those clients (many of which have asked us to remain anonymous), we have worked closely with:
- Bean Creative, from Virginia (USA) for the game Super Why!
- Rudicubes, from Geneva (Switzerland) for their game Cubz.
- iOS development training for professionals, developers and the general public; we have been steadily providing training services to hundreds of people during the year!
Conferences
During 2010, akosma software has both organized and participated as speaker in many conferences and technical events accross Europe:
- Scandinavian Developer Conference 2010 (Göteborg, Sweden)
- Intro to iPad for iPhone Developers (Zürich, Switzerland)
- Dev Days for iPhone (Geneva, Switzerland and London, UK)
- JAOO 2010 (Århus, Denmark)
- Rezonance First (Yverdon Les Bains, Switzerland)
- Talk at EPFL (Lausanne, Switzerland)
Open Source
akosma software is actively involved in the open source arena, giving back to the community as much as we can, because we strongly believe that we all benefit from sharing code and contributing to each others’ projects. Here are some of the projects that we have published or updated during 2010:
- Senbei
- cortito (installed in akos.ma + myze.ro)
- nib2objc
- iPhone Web Services
- Core Text Objective-C Wrapper
Interviews
As active members of the iOS development community in Switzerland, we’ve been interviewed in several occasions during the year, to provide our opinion about the status of the iOS software landscape in this country and abroad:
- CulturePod.ch interview (Thanks to Thierry Weber!)
- First iPads in Switzerland (Thanks again to Thierry Weber!)
- iPhoneDevSuisse interview (Thanks Junior!)
- Le Potecast #21 (Thanks yet again Thierry Weber, Jay-Rôme Berthoud et Nicolas Pittet!)
- Article about the Geneva Dev Days for iPhone sur Le Temps (Thanks to Anouch Seydtaghia!)
- Article on Com.in magazine about Mobile App Stores (Gracias a Victoria Marchand!)
Other News
But that’s not all! Many more good things have happened in akosma software during 2010:
- Marco Arment, the creator of Instapaper, has added support for exporting items to Notitas!
- Some of our code has been included in Kevin Smith’s iPhone app!
- We’ve been notified that cortito is being used internally by ATT Interactive!
- We have been asked by Pragmatic Programmers to provide technical reviews and also a praise for the recently released “iPad Programming” book, by Daniel Steinberg and Eric Freeman!
- Last but definitely not least, nib2objc has been featured by Erica Sadun in her “iPhone Developers Cookbook”!
We wish you the best for 2011!