Sessions at App Developers Conference on Thursday 27th October

Today’s browsers sport amazing capabilities, truly graduating from markup renderers to sophisticated app run-times. We’re sure to see some amazing new web applications just over the horizon that take advantage of these new capabilities. At the same time, the mobile ecosystem is white hot and we’re seeing a range of start-ups pursue an “app-only” strategy. What relationship do mobile “apps” have with the web and how will these two communities co-exist into the future? Also, how do developers target all of these different platforms? Which should they embrace and which should they ignore? Join Ben and Dion as they explore these issues.

With the proliferation of smartphones and tablets, people are taking their everyday lives portable, creating their own unique mobile lifestyle. In turn, people are searching for new ways to connect while using their mobile device as a means for creative expression.

During this presentation, Jeannie Yang, the vice president of product alchemy at Smule, will discuss Smule’s product development process as well as creating and designing a successful social application that fosters organic connections and communities from UI to launch. Smule is the creator of the popular I Am T-Pain, Magic Piano, Magic Fiddle, Ocarina and Glee Karaoke apps. The company’s apps not only enable music creation but allow users to showcase their talent on a world stage and connect anonymously with other musical mavens from around the globe.

PayPal has announced mobile plans that include newly acquired assets like Milo.com, Where Inc, and Zong. In May Google announced Google Wallet, its new mobile-payment system based on near field communications. And RIM released its BlackBerry Java SDK v7.0 into beta, which, among other things, allows mobile developers to build NFC applications for the BlackBerry 7 OS. In other words, people can now use cell phones to shop and buy. In the future individual products on store shelves will have tiny NFC enabled labels with product information, advertising, coupons or offers. Come learn about the new trends and technologies, what it means, and how to develop with it in mind.

More than half of all smartphone owners played games and racked up about 8 hours of play time each month in the second quarter this year, according to a new report from Nielsen. However, did you know that BlackBerry users prefer communication tools to games? How about that Android users don’t like paying for content? Developers who understand the nuance of each platform can reach the widest possible audience without wasting time on applications that may miss the mark. Find out what users want and discover methods for understanding users better.

Compelling content is just one aspect of a successful entertainment application. Learn how developers are using metadata, recommendations, and social features to create highly engaging entertainment apps.

Before bringing an app to market, entrepreneurs and companies must often clear a number of legal hurdles. These include defining ownership rights (particularly if freelancers or open source code are used), protecting your IP, and observing the rules of app stores and other distribution points. This session will guide you through the legal challenges developers typically face.

After the dramatic growth of social games such as FarmVille, the next big step has been to add game mechanics and social mechanics to apps that are not games. Content, badges, points, levels, awards, status and other techniques help transform apps into rewarding, interactive experiences. Learn about tools and techniques for gamifying your apps and increasing revenue and retention from leaders in app development across Facebook, mobile and connected devices.

BMW, Nissan, Toyota and others have announced connected car platforms. This session will give you the insight as to: how to develop with the connected car, consumer behavior in connected autos and where these platforms are going. Areas to be covered include opportunities and monetization issues, automotive apps stores and connected car/smartphone integration.

This one’s all about the funding, folks. As an entrepreneur and developer how much should you budget for developing your app, marketing it, monetizing it, etc? This number is critical to venture capitalists and your fundraising strategy. What do VC’s look for at each stage of the mobile investment process? Since apps have been around for a couple years now, it is not all about early stage investing. This panel of venture capitalists will share what they look for at each investment stage. Be sure you’re company has not only the best chance for raising money but the best opportunity for ultimate success. The panel will share their insight on user acquisition, engagement, monetization, and more.

The Enterprise has largely been ignored by the new app development world. That is changing. Find out how you can take advantage of the huge opportunities and real revenue that the enterprise world offers.

This session covers the development and support associated with providing an API platform that can be used across devices from smartphones and tablets to TVs and cars. You don’t want your app having communication issues with other apps, and you don’t want your users to leave because they can’t access your service from their favorite devices, so you need an API. However, one size does not fit all – each class of device has different needs from an API. This session will give you some key “do’s” and “dont’s” about developing an API to successfully drive your apps and services across the full spectrum of connected devices.

Advertising on several platforms presents a variety of challenges. In this session, we’ll cover some high level tips on how to build and manage software that lets you scale your advertising approach across your platform.

Do you ever wish you had an extra set of eyeballs to look over your apps? What if those eyeballs were robots? Yelp engineers built GHUnit to automate UI verification so that our robots tell us when our app’s UI is broken. GHUnit has the ability to record the look of a UIView so that the developer is aware of any changes since the last test run. In this presentation you will learn how to use GHUnit to verify your app’s UI.

The tablet market is getting a whole lot more interesting with each passing day. Come find out where it’s heading in this can’t miss session that includes a variety of perspectives.

Being an Android developer is not always as glamorous as you would expect. You’re often a second class citizen in the world of mobile development that is dominated by iOS. You have to deal with a multitude of devices and carriers. This talk is an irreverent look at some of the experiences the speakers have had working in the world of mobile and Android. Sometimes it’s so funny that it hurts.