Ansca simplifies iPhone app-coding

New software invites all programmers to develop iPhone apps easily

Do you have an idea for the next great app, but have no time or desire to learn how to code in Objective C? If so, Ansca, Inc. believes it has the perfect software solution to supplement that inspiration.

The San Mateo-based startup on Tuesday launched the early adopter program for its new mobile software creator, Corona.

Aimed at software designers and engineers, Corona seeks to make it easy for developers with various web-scripting skills to tackle the iPhone with their software ideas by allowing them to code in LUA, a programming language similar to ActionScript.

Ansca hopes its platform will have a drastic effect on the kinds of apps being built for the iPhone and the speed with which they’re completed.

Shown below are games released in the App Store which have been developed using Ansca's, Corona.

"With Corona, our development time to create mobile applications is much shorter than working with the native iPhone SDK. On our current projects, primary coding time has been reduced from weeks to days," according to Evan Kirchhoff, president of mobile application development company Comrade Software, efficiency has definitely increased. 

Carlos Icaza, president and CEO of Ansca, and Walter Luh, CTO, carrying over their experience from working on Adobe mobile software, necessarily have the busy developer in mind with the release of their exciting venture. On top of this, they are trying to reel in programmers who may not have considered coding mobile applications before now.

“Designers, who were previously isolated from the development process, are now able to express their creativity on the mobile canvas for the first time,” says Luh. “Corona is enabling a new level of efficiency for developers, while also expanding the pool for non-traditional mobile developers.”

Whether we’ll be seeing a dramatic explosion of new iPhone apps authored in Ansca’s new software solution should be exciting to follow. And, more intriguingly, we’d like to see whether Ansca will follow through with its search for simplification by developing an app-creation product tailored for the ordinary user.  Basically, for someone who has absolutely no programming knowledge, a sort of drag and drop interface as described by the two co-founders in our conversation with them.

A demonstration of the software by Luh will take place this Friday, June 26th at 9 a.m. CST at the HOW Conference in Austin, Texas.