Belfast firm set to launch the App Builder in US
A Northern Ireland technology company is set to launch a new product which will enable people to build, publish and update their own apps from a mobile phone.
JamPot Technologies, based in Belfast, was only formed at the start of this year.
Its chief executive James Scott said he believed its product - the App Builder - which will be launched at a conference in Los Angeles on 3 October - is a "world first in the mobile app creation market".
"The App Builder product enables non-technical people to create and update mobile applications from their own mobile device," he said.
"These applications will be available on a variety of platforms: iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and even desktop computers.
"The resulting apps will be submitted to the relevant app stores all through an automatic process on the JamPot server.
"This is all achieved by using a mobile phone and does not require any specialist knowledge.
"This is radically different from what is already out there and as far as we know we are the first in the world to do this."
Mr Scott said that previously the cost of developing a customised mobile app would have started at £5,000 and making it available on Android and iPhone would have been at least £10,000.
"The cost is so high because two different apps need to be developed (one for each platform)," he said.
"This normally requires two different development teams as the apps are written in two different languages.
"Our research has enabled us to produce applications for a variety of platforms from the same code which cuts the development costs.
"There are companies that offer something similar, however it either requires technical knowledge or is completed on the web (not on a mobile device)."
The JamPot Technologies chief executive said the firm would be offering a subscription service at "under £25 a month", with the price including "unlimited user updates to the application".
Technology writer and IT consultant Adrian Mars said he felt the product was a "step forward".
He said it was encouraging that the firm was using a subscription model as hopefully it would act as a barrier to the "app store being flooded by low quality apps".
"It is a move forward, it will be good for prototyping and trying out new ideas at a low risk," he added.
"I think the apps will be more content based like guide books etc, or you could create something based on your family history.
"The future of app builders is bright, in the future we will produce apps just like we can produce photos."