Native vs. Webkit browser UI

BlackBerry browser UI

The Blackberry browser has traditional menu links in the header

About a year and a half ago, we introduced the first native Soonr application for the iPhone. It has been very well received and gave capabilities never before seen on a mobile phone. Last year the Android phones came to play. One of the major features of the Android OS was its openness. Android was designed for developers to be able to add functionality and we quickly took advantage of this to enable upload and download of files to the phone.

You see, the iPhone has a pretty closed file system. You can’t easily write to or retrieve files from the phone’s memory without going through a very strict program interface. Android is different. Programs have direct access to the storage on the phone. Because of this, it’s easy to download files onto the phone and also upload photos from the phone. We’ve taken advantage of this in the Soonr native application for Android.

Note the "Download" option for the file. You only get this in the Android native applicaiton, not the iPhone.

This is especially useful for cases where you might want a document for offline viewing. Maybe when you are on a plane you’d like to look over a presentation or a sales proposal. With the Android application for Soonr, you can download those to your phone and look them over in places that you don’t have any kind of internet connection. This adds a new level of flexibility to business and personal users alike.

No matter what phone you or your team members use, Soonr will give you a great user experience. Check out the Soonr for Android application in the Android Market place. Download it to your phone for free and have an easy and robust way to access your Soonr account which is connected to your computers and your team members.

Soonr is in the Top 10 in Apple Store!

The Apple application store is a wonderous thing. I remember the “old days” when you have to hire a marketing firm or do a lot of analysis to understand how your product was being received. Companies were created that charged hundreds of thousands of dollars to measure the effectiveness of an offering or a marketing campaign. The folks at Apple have solved a lot of very hard problems with the application store.

When initially introduced some complained that the 30% fee that Apple was charging was a bit much. Clearly these folks didn’t understand what it takes to create:

• A seamless marketplace
• Easy installation experience on a handset
• Commerce engine
• Alleviate credit responsibilities
• Creation of a website to sell an application

What Apple has done is truly remarkable. Oh yeah, and our application is free. So we pay Apple 30% of $0.00.

Hundreds of thousands of dollars of value for free. I love the internet and I love the Apple application store.

Thanks to all the users supporting us by trying out Soonr! Let’s see how far we can move up the scale!