Blog

Tell us a little bit about yourself!

I’m Simon, and I work on Facebook’s mobile APIs and SDKs. I’ve been at Facebook for 2 ½ years so I’ve been there through the launch of timeline and the launch of our tools for iOS and Android developers. When I’m not building stuff, I’m a proper audio geek, and play the drums in a band, The Poor Souls of Pompeii.

What do you do at Facebook?

My team works with mobile developers across the world to build awesome mobile, social apps using Facebook’s platform. We write docs, we make videos, we speak at events and, critically, we write software to help developers be successful with Facebook. This includes both sample apps that thousands of developers use to get started with Facebook, and tools like Facebook’s Graph API Explorer (which I worked on) that make it easy to understand how our platform works.

What does Facebook have in store this year at MWC?

We’ve been hard at work over the last 9 months to totally revamp our SDKs and products for...

Tell us a little about what you’re up to!

I am currently a software consultant who is focusing on Mobile Consulting.  I am a developer/entrepreneur who strives to make an excellent product and change the world.  My next startup is on the way.

What are the biggest lessons you’ve learned while working in the tech industry?

I’ve failed a couple of startups, but I was successful with certain aspects of my career. The biggest lesson I’ve learned by far is that unless your product is completely different or much better than the current mainstream solutions out there, it’s going to be very hard to develop organic growth of either user base or revenue.

What have been the biggest challenges you’ve faced in developing and rolling out your apps?

Traction, revenue and intellectual property.  Those are among the three hardest things I’ve faced while rolling out my apps.  I believe that in order for an app to succeed, they need to contain at least one of the three listed challenges....

One of our biggest tips for first time MWCers is to bring a pair of comfortable shoes. Regardless of whether you're rocking crocs with socks or gucci loafers, by Thursday you'll be ready to give your feet a rest and compete for some great prizes with some coding! There are 3 hackathons at WIPJam that you can attend, each with their own twist, so choose to your strength and win some great prizes!

Best AppUp App for Windows - sponsored by Intel

How to Win:

Create a new app, or port your existing application to Windows to be sold through the Intel AppUp center – your Application needs to be submitted to the Store but due to time constraints, validation is not required

Prizes:

1st place: 1.000,00€ Amazon Voucher
2nd place: 750,00€ Amazon Voucher
3rd place: 500,00€ Amazon Voucher
ASUS UX31E Ultrabook will be raffled amongst all individual developers talking part in the Intel AppUp category

Full Details:

Intel AppUp Hackathon

Best Use of the Nokia Location...

With Mobile World Congress right around the corner, there's no doubt that some of you have already thought about joining a hackathon or two during your time there. While coding for the sake of coding can be fun, it's probably even more fun if you win so we reached out to Peter Lindgren, CEO of VISIARC, and recent hackathon winner at last year's Nokia World: 

First of all, tell us a little bit about VISIARC.

VISIARC is a mobile cloud company that specializes in mobile documents or more specifically email, attachments and documents. Traditionally, we focus on enterprise and productivity.

You recently took home first prize for your app 'Duudle' at Nokia World's Hackathon. Can you tell us a little bit about Duudle?

Duudle is a multiplayer, turn and skill based game. The game play is original in the sense that it hasn't really been done before, yet its' actually quite straight-forward. You get a word, then you get 30 seconds to 'duudle'. Your duudle is then pushed to all...

We've finally caught our breath after the Muther! of all Hackathons a couple of weeks ago in Mountain View. The event was a huge success, thanks to the 300+ attendees who showed up and all of our excellent sponsors! Almost 50 apps were presented on Saturday, and I was blown away by what the developers were able to accomplish in just 24 hours. The creativity shown, as well as the polish on the apps, was amazing.

I wasn't sure what to expect -- or what I'd gotten myself into -- with an all-night event with so many people. But I was impressed by the spirit of all the participants, the supportive, fun and focused atmosphere, and also the work of all the sponsors and the WIP team to pull it off! We had a wide range of attendees, from people just getting started in mobile development to very experienced and polished devs, and I think that we were able to create a place where they all could take something away from the event.

I really enjoyed sitting through the pitches and being...

Calling Canadian MobileDevelopers - Join a GSMA OneAPI Hack-a-thon

The GSMA has put together a global initiative called OneAPI.  It's all about network APIs and making it easier for application developers to work with the operators - you only develop to OneAPI, have one set of T&Cs and get access to multiple carriers. 

The first pilot is in Canada, with Bell, Rogersand TELUS! And the first APIs open are messaging, location and operator billing.   We need YOU, the developers, to work it, play with it and tell us WHAT YOU THINK!  Other international operators will follow shortly.  So get in on the ground floor now!

Join us for a briefing session and stay to hack-a-thon with refreshments and prizes.

Sign up on the WIP website for a Hack-a-thon in these cities:

- Montreal:       Thursday, May 13

- Ottawa:          Monday, May 17

- Toronto:         Tuesday, May 18

- Vancouver:    Thursday, May 20

http://www.wipconnector.com/wipjam/oneapi

OR  Get started right away,...