uMobile, I’m Mobile,

We’re All Mobile!Dave Derderian - Java Developer AnalystSteve Wiggins - Student Java Developer

Andrew Clissold - Student Java Developer / iOS Guy

Welcome to OUOakland University is located in Rochester, Michigan20,000+ students5,000+ faculty/staff

Coming Up...● Why Go Mobile?● OU’s Strengths & Weaknesses● Mobile Options

○ uMobile○ Native Solution

■ Native App Benefits

Why Go Mobile?

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/28/technology/mobile/mobile-apps-internet/

Why Go Mobile?

● OU mobile traffic is growing● Traffic from 2013–2014:

o Android 127% growtho iOS (iPhone/iPad) 78%

growtho Desktop -5% Growth

Why Go Mobile?From OU’s Google Analytics:● iOS 64%● Android 35%● Windows .5%● Blackberry .2%

Over 12,500 iOS and 5,000 for Android downloads at OUDue to these stats we are only targeting iPhones, iPads, and Android devices

Why Go Mobile?U.S. 2013 smartphone sales● Android 79% up 15%● iOS 14% down

4%● Microsoft 3% up 1%● Blackberry 3% down 2%

Source: new smartphone sales in 2013 http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/2573415

Oakland’s Strengths● Heavy adopters of open-

source

● Flexible development staff

● Student developer program

● Good knowledge base in Java and web development

● Close collaboration with Unicon

● Leadership backing for mobile development

Oakland’s Weaknesses● Limited Objective-C

knowledge base● Minimal mobile

skillset● Small full-time staff

Mobile OptionsIn the beginning…uPortal was mobile-first before mobile-first was cool● This is uPortal 2 in a

cell phone web browser

Mobile Options● Mobile Web

o Responsive design!

● Native Appo Runs quicklyo Fluid interactiono Work with native SDKs

● Build Once! Deploy Anywhere!o HTML5 / JS with Native Wrapper

Titanium by Appcelerator PhoneGap by Adobe

ResponsiveWeb

PhoneGap

Titanium

Native

Mobile Options

● uPortal Web themes○ mUniversality

■ jQuery Mobile■ uPortal 3.2+ support■ Complex design (Gradients, Beveling, 3D design elements)

○ Respondr■ Bootstrap 3■ uPortal 4.1+ support■ Flat design

Mobile Options

Mobile Options● Respondr

○ Mobile-first ideology

○ Responsive design

○ Consistent user experience

Mobile Options● Respondr

o More views created with less code

o Bootstrap is incredibly popular and widely supported

Mobile Options

● Respondr’s awesome!● But it still won’t replace mobile apps● It’s important to have an App Store / Play

Store presence

Why Mobile Apps?● Extending the

University brand into another medium

● Bring a product into app stores where customers are already looking for apps

Why Mobile Apps?● Native apps perform

better than other solutions and customers demand this

● If you don’t claim your institution’s app space, someone else will!

uMobileuMobile is a new open source initiative to bring campus applications, content, and data to mobile devices. The project provides a native app for iPhone and Android devices, as well as browser-based content for other smartphones.

uMobile enables a single code base to provide both browser-based and native-app functionality, allowing institutions to produce mobile applications in a familiar environment.

http://apereo.org/umobile

uMobile● Why uMobile?

o It was open source and the licensing was friendly

o We could contribute our code to Apereo, no legacy to support!

o We could easily integrate with existing components CAS, uPortal and portlets

o Support vendor diversity in our environmento Consistent user experience

uMobile● Options

○ Appcelerator’s Titanium Studio○ PhoneGap○ Native Android & iOS Apps

uMobileTitanium Studio

● Build using JS only● No Java/Objective-C required● Must learn new APIs● Custom Eclipse-based IDE● Extra frameworks optional● Closed-off● Build Once - Deploy Anywhere● SLOW - abstraction layer● NOT NATIVE

PhoneGap● HTML / CSS / JS● No Java/Objective-C required● Must learn new APIs● IDE of choice● Requires extra JS Frameworks● Open-source (Apache Cordova)● Build Once - Deploy Anywhere● SLOW - abstraction layer● NOT NATIVE

uMobile

Titanium Studio

uMobile

● Was in production—twice○ 1st version was non-uMobile without rich

content○ 2nd version version using uMobile with rich

content● Talk of deprecation● Support is expensive

Titanium Studio

uMobile● PhoneGap is a mobile development framework

purchased by Adobe in 2011● Enables apps to be built using web technologies

instead of device-specific languages such as Objective-C

● The underlying software for PhoneGap is Apache Cordova

● Apache Cordova is open source

uMobilePhoneGap

uMobile

● Build once deploy anywhere● Better suited for a smaller staff with limited resources● Third party plugin support issues

○ Plugins written in native OS languages

PhoneGap

uMobile

● Build once deploy anywhere too good to be trueo Avoiding native SDKs → increased development timeo Documentation subpar compared to to

Google’s/Apple’s● 64-bit plugin roadblock● Multiple levels of abstraction and large payloads = slow● Debugging is a PAIN

o Especially on iOS devices

PhoneGap Issues

Native to Save the Day!!

Native Solution

● Simplistic at first○ Students demanding more now

● Easy to configure (change links and compile)

● Works with CAS

Download Now!

Android

Native Solution

● Uses the Android SDK directly● Built off of existing uMobile APIs● Uses portal’s mobile web portlet

views

● No middle abstraction layer like Titanium/PhoneGap

● Easily customizable by changing URLs

● NATIVE

Android

Native Solution

● Native iOS SDK / Objective-C● Very fluid● Single codebase for all iOS devices● Custom CAS login

Download Now!

iOS

Native Solution

● Uses the iOS SDK directly● Built off of existing uMobile● Uses portal’s mobile web portlet

views

● No middle abstraction layer like Titanium/PhoneGap

● Easily customizable by changing URLs

● NATIVE

iOS

Native App Benefits

● Conventions expected by users● Apple/Google frameworks have

unparalleled developer adoptiono Abundant online help

● Android Studio/Eclipse/Xcode!

Native App Benefits● Autolayout● Fast

Native App Benefits● Future possibilities

o Split-screen on iPad

o Integration with RESTful portlets

o Push notificationso Integrated uPortal

Search

Native App Cost● Apps have additional cost over

mobile web sites

o Developer subscription cost

o Apple Hardware (for iOS)● Staffing Resources Increased?

o We have found that Native app development takes a lot less time than “build once deploy anywhere” apps

Get Involved!● Important links

○ Apereo uMobile apereo.org/umobile○ Join the mailing list:

apereo.org/umobile/community

● Today:o 10:00 AM—MORPHEUS

Mobile Optimized Responsive Portal for Higher Education Using Sass

o 10:00 AM—Skinning uPortal with Respondro 1:00 PM—uMobile - where are we and what

next?● Tomorrow:

o 11:00 AM—Next Generation Portal: Redesigning the portlet from a user-focused, responsive, mobile-first perspective

o 5:30 PM–7:00 PM—Check out Respondr

Get Involved!

Questions?Thank You!

Dave Derderian dmderde2@oakland.eduSteve Wiggins scwiggin@oakland.eduAndrew Clissold ajclisso@oakland.edu