Flash developers flocking to Ansca Mobile

Developers let down by Adobe turn to Ansca development kit for designing iPhone apps

Technology trends and news by Ronny Kerr
January 7, 2010 | Comments (5)
Short URL: http://vator.tv/n/ce3

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A lot of Flash developers were disappointed last month when Adobe abandoned plans to release a public beta of Adobe Flash Professional CS5, something the company had been hyping up since October. In tandem with Packager for iPhone, Adobe Flash Professional CS5 is designed so that ActionScript 3 projects can run as native iPhone apps, meaning that Flash developers would be able to easily create iPhone apps without any experience in Apple's Objective-C iPhone programming language.

Fortunately for those let-down developers, Ansca Mobile, which we first took a look at last June, released in early December the Corona 1.0 SDK, a set of development tools that empowers Flash developers to start building iPhone apps with their current skill set. Developers can now design applications in mere weeks, who might have had to set aside months to either learn Objective-C iPhone programming language or wait for Adobe to announce the final release Adobe Flash Professional CS5.

"We’re basically converting our game portfolio," said Shawn Hickey, Chief Architect of Flash design studio Comrade Software. Comrade Software recently released a game called Core Damage (pictured),Core Damage which could originally only be found on Flash Lite on Verizon Wireless in the United States and Softbank in Japan  "Using Corona, we can port a game to iPhone in about two weeks, with dramatically upgraded graphics and sound, and we’re very happy with the results."

Nick Wright, creator of the apps Flip 'Em Off and Cell Jumper claims that Corona "has shaved weeks off [his] development cycle."

Ansca Mobile has always been about enabling designers, web developers and engineers to put their current skill sets towards creating iPhone apps, and news that Flash developers are embracing Corona proves the power and versatility of the company's development kit.

At the beginning of December, near the release date of Corona, Ansca closed a $1 million Series A round of financing, funded completely by Merus Capital.

Related companies, investors and entrepreneurs

Plogo_ansca-mobile_ansca mobile logo
Ansca Mobile
Startup/Business
Description: Ansca is a venture-backed company based in Palo Alto, CA. Our Corona product line empowers developers of all backgrounds ...

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Comments

Comment_gbg
Sean Murphy, on January 7, 2010

Ronny, did you say "flocking?"

I like your style.

~ Sean

Ronny Kerr
Ronny Kerr, on January 7, 2010

Thanks!

Comment_gbg
Guilhem Ensuque, on January 12, 2010

For Flash or Flex developers who want to develop mobile applications right now, there is an alternative to both the unreleased Adobe CS5 and Corona: it's called ELIPS Studio 3 from OpenPlug.

See http://developer.openplug.com/

It supports building native apps for iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile from ActionScript and Flex code

On the upside it offers full AS3 compatibility and exposes native iPhone widgets, so its a bonus in terms of leadtime for Flash/Flex developers

Comment_gbg
Hetal Bhatt, on January 28, 2010

^ Nice little automated troll they got in the comment above.

One thing that Corona has that ELIPS Studio doesn't is the ability to build lightweight yet graphically rich apps (minimum size only 300 KB -- the App Store won't sell anything over 10 MB) and the streamlined ability to build apps in a span of WEEKS rather than months. (ex: the 2-week build time for the app 'Box of Sox')

Ya can't beat that! ,-) But if you don't believe me, you can take it for a test drive with a free, unrestricted 30-day trial: http://3.ly/CrnaTrial

Comment_gbg
Guilhem Ensuque, on March 9, 2010

@Hetal I do not think that I am any more of an automated troll than you are :)

For setting the record straight you are a PR contractor for Ansca and I am Director Product Marketing for OpenPlug, so we could both be branded as "trolls". Now I guess vator readers prefer to hear stories first-hand.

Now for the facts:
- "The App Store won't sell" anything above 10MB : not true. it used to be that it had a cap for downloading apps over 3G, but that has now been lifted.
- Corona can make apps as small as 300 KB. Congrats to you, I have no way to verify that. Anyway, who cares on a device that has 32GB memory ?
- As for developer productivity, I guess that with Corona there is a learning curve with getting to know Lua script ? Flash/Flex developers know actionscript, so there is no learning curve for them with ELIPS
- I do not see anything in your above comment substantiating the fact that with ELIPS it would take longer to create an app vs Corona. As a matter of fact, the TweetMWC client available on Apple App Store, OVI Store, Android Market and MS Marketplace has been developed in a couple of weeks

Now, who is the troll ?

Guilhem

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