Stockholm, Sweden – September 1st, 2011 – Appear, a mobile software development specialist has announced today that it has been awarded innovation financing from Vinnova in the context of the ”Forska & Väx” (Research and Grow) innovation programme. The competition was fierce as 308 high tech companies applied in 2011 and only 49 were awarded innovation financing. The project has a budget of 9M SEK and will focus on mobile cloud computing platforms for consumer smartphones and tablets.

Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms (MEAPs) have been used for several years to support mobile workforce solutions. MEAPs provide one set of tools for managing applications, users and devices, allowing the number of users and applications to grow without increasing the system management overhead. MEAPs also allow companies to build integrated/composite mobile applications for better operational workflows across the enterprise, as the mobile applications are no longer locked in "operational silos".

With the rise of powerful smartphones and tablets, the sensing capability of these devices (GPS, NFC, accelerometer, compass, etc.), and the availability of cheap high bandwidth connectivity (3G and now 4G/LTE), a new range of advanced mobile applications are coming to market, which are insufficiently supported by existing MEAPs.

The Vinnova funded project aims to develop the Appear IQ further to support the next generation of devices, sensors and networks. The new Appear IQ platform will rely on three key technology areas:

• [u]Cloud computing[/u]: using cloud-based servers to allow the flexible adoption of the service by enterprises that are not willing to invest in a dedicated turnkey solution.
• [u]Cross-p[/u][u]latform[/u]: using HTML5 to reach various devices such as iPhones, iPads, Android-powered phones and tablets, Windows Phone devices and Blackberry devices, among others.
• [u]Context[/u]: extending the concept of context to user characteristics (role, profile, preferences, history), device characteristics (screen size, communications capabilities, keyboard configuration, accelerometers, GPS sensors), neighbouring users, sensors and machines (nearest colleagues’ context, crowd density, temperature) in order to more accurately characterize the context within which mobile users operate, and therefore predict their short term needs

Vincent Dollet, CTO of Appear, explains: ”With the massive success of consumer smartphones, users have become accustomed to very quick interfaces, where a simple touch of the screen immediately triggers the right function. Field service workers expect no less. Our new platform can deliver business-critical services to enterprise workers, from the cloud to the mobile device, using context to improve dramatically the user interaction model”.

Appear is adding these new technology components to Generation 7 of its flagship Appear IQ mobile platform.

More information:

[u]http://[/u][u]<a href="http://www.appearnetworks.com">www.appearnetworks.com[/u]</a>

[u]<a href="http://www.vinnova.se/sv/Verksamhet/ForskaVax/">http://www.vinnova.se/sv/Verksamhet/ForskaVax/</a>[/u]

About Vinnova:
VINNOVA, Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems, is Sweden’s innovation agency, aiming to increase the competitiveness of Swedish researchers and companies, whose task is to promote sustainable growth in Sweden by funding needs-driven research and the development of effective innovation systems. An important part of VINNOVA’s activities consists of increasing the cooperation between companies, universities, research institutes and other organisations in the Swedish innovation system. VINNOVA is a Swedish government agency under the Ministry of Enterprise, Energy and Communications and the national contact agency for the EU Framework Programme for R&D.

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