Zend Integrates PhoneGap into PHP Tools for Mobile + Cloud Apps

Zend, providers of PHP based tools for mobile and enterprise app developers, has introduced updates to three flagship products during its ZendCon event this week, and a PhoneGap integration for building cross-platform apps.

PHP is a popular web scripting language, and it powers the likes of Web powerhouses Facebook and Wikipedia. Zend has debuted new versions of its development environment and other tools that promise to leverage the power of PHP for cloud and mobile.

Zend Studio 10

Zend Studio 10 is an integrated development platform meant for building PHP that can add tons of capabilities to apps on the Web or mobile. One of its most powerful attributes is that it can build apps across systems with the added PhoneGap integration.

Companies can use this handy feature to build apps for iOS, Android, BlackBerry or Windows Phone among others, and do it using familiar drag and drop features. That kind of add on is always appreciated by those building apps without having been totally immersed in a computer science background.

Mobile apps can me built quickly with drag and drop tools and customized for a variety of operating systems.

As the image above shows, the built in emulator displays what mobile apps will look like on a particular device, and it's another nice visual tool app developers are likely feeling should be standard on any platform. Zend Studio 10 also supports the latest version of PHP known as v5.4, and that means new syntax like traits can be used as well.

Zend Server 6 + Zend Server Gateway

Zend Server 6 is an application server that runs business critical apps in PHP, and the v6 update includes tools for automating app development and monitoring multiple apps at a more granular level. Zend Server Gateway then is the tool that allows apps to talk to other connected systems in the cloud for things like validation and authentication.

All of the new versions are now downloadable from the Zend website. Zend Server for Windows or Linux starts at about US $1,700 to nearly US $15,000, and there is also a Zend Server Production Solution. This is a full package offering complete with two available levels of support, starting at around US $7,000 with an annual subscription. There is also a free 30 day trial available for Zend Studio 10.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

ePrize Passbook Integration Helps Marketers Reward Customers On the Go

ePrize, providers of online promotions and contests, has announced its integration into Apple's Passbook app for mobile access to rewards, contest offerings, coupons and loyalty programs.

Passbook, a new Apple iOS 6 feature, helps people corral their airline info, coffee house cards and concert and movie tickets into one place. ePrize is tapping into Passbook to allow its own digital engagement platform to coexist along with customers' other mobile wallet-like items.

Real-Time Rewards

In business for over a decade, ePrize provides a full suite of advertising and promotions to many popular websites. It makes use of a mobile device's geolocation to offer coupons when a person walks by a participating store. In an interview, David Wachs, ePrize's vice president of the mobile division, said that as iPhone 5 users start to take advantage of Passbook, it presents a great opportunity for ePrize.

In January, ePrize bought Cellit, a company more focused on mobile than on standalone sites. The Cellit buy brought Wachs into the fold, and the new Passbook integration is the next step for the combined companies. Companies hire ePrize to design and build contest and promotion websites, and then connect out to the ePrize-hosted site, which looks and feels just like the companion site it is working with. 

ePrize contest in the Passbook app helps incentivize customer behavior.
 

Now that ePrize is focusing more on mobile, Wachs believes that Passbook integration is just the first step. Eventually, he said, other mobile operating systems will have Passbook-type apps that ePrize can work with.

Google's Android OS has the Google Wallet app, but it has more to do with transactions, something Passbook doesn't include. Google Wallet allows people to buy things with their smartphone and near field communication technology, something that, for a variety of reasons, has yet to become very widespread. 

In order to really make use of apps like Wallet, people need to be connected all the time, and stores need to have the technology to allow the NFC feature to work as well. Those are just two of the roadblocks in the way for Wallet. With Passbook, there is less focus on those transactions, and that's where the ePrize instant rewards and coupon reminders come in.

"Apple is doing things without credit cards, which is smart," Wachs remarked.

Apps Over Email

With traditional coupons and rewards, people have to go into their email to redeem them. An ePrize-based coupon can be saved right into Passbook and redeemed from there. Additionally, any loyalty programs used can have the points updated right in the Passbook app.

As for other geolocation features, if someone has an ePrize coupon that is about to expire, Passbook can remind them once they get close to the store's physical location. 

All this activity is tracked and stored by ePrize and analyzed to improve performance, helping digital marketing campaigns be more efficient. EPrize has over 800 customers worldwide, and it provides fully customized promotion and mobile marketing programs of various sizes. ePrize also has integrations with systems like Salesforce and SurveyMonkey. Pricing for ePrize products will depend on what the customers need, so that information is not publicly available.

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com