1. Use the links in Web Links for this case, your favorite search engine, and resources in your library to learn more about Android and Apple as program delivery systems for smart phones. Prepare a 300-word executive summary for Yash that describes each delivery system you identify and outlines the current or likely near-term availability of each system for content providers such as PFI.
The two program delivery systems examined for smart phones are Brew and Windows Azure. Brew platform was developed and introduced over a decade ago through Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. They were one of the first “mass market wireless application solutions” available. Many professions embrace this platform such as: device developers and manufactures and mobile value chain operators. Brew offers operators and device manufactures flexibility and the ability to differentiate products. There are over one billion Brew devices that have been produced and commercialized, which has led to over three billion dollars paid out to developers whom have used Brew.
Brew offers the Brew MP SDK along with other associated tools in order to speed development of applications. For content providers such as PFI, the current or likely near-term availability is fairly short, meaning that Brew can help develop and launch an application fairly rapidly. Brew believes that it is important to get an application to the market as simple and easily as possible by creating a submission guide with instructions for each phase and providing additional information for any questions or concerns that may arise.
Windows Azure is a fairly new cloud computing infrastructure and platform that Microsoft launched in 2008. Since then, they have introduced new updates and features. Their mobile services allow people to develop and create applications that are connected for any platform. They are available with SDKs for Windows, HTML, Android and iOS. With Windows Azure, you are able to store data in the cloud, easily authenticate users, send push notifications, and monitor, alert and auto scale your applications. They deliver a 99.95% monthly SLA, and pride themselves on allowing customers to create and launch applications that are highly available without concentrating too much on the infrastructure. Window Azure allows content providers such as PFI to be able to start developing a mobile app within minutes.
2. Prepare a report for Yash and the PFI executive team in which you outline and analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each content delivery system you have identified. Your report should conclude with a specific recommendation regarding the suitability of each content delivery system for PFI’s games. This report should be about 300 words in length.
The Brew platform has both strengths and weaknesses. Since they have been in business for over a decade, they have been able to perfect their technology, understand what needs to be updated, and know how to work with customers on an individualized basis. They offer an easy to follow, six-step distribution overview in order to help customers launch their applications. The steps are: get authenticated, prepare your item for testing, submit your item for testing, commercialize your item, manage your commercial item, and run reports.
They have a wide array of guides in order to help a customer be as successful as possible such as: primers, technology guides, “how to” information, references, online learning and sample codes. One weakness of Brew is that their initial version was only compatible for CDMA networks. However, their later versions have been enabled for TDMA and GSM networks. This weakness has been fixed, however they are not as experienced with TDMA and GSM as they are with CDMA.
Windows Azure also has strengths and weaknesses that must be considered. Windows Azure is currently available in 84 countries and they offer a free trial. They also allow you to power your applications by using Virtual Machines and cloud or mobile services. Windows Azure allows you to send push notifications to millions of users and can make your application social by configuring user authentication through social networks. Windows Azure allows customers to scale an application on demand if traffic grows or slows down without provisioning more infrastructure.
Windows Azure main weakness is they have dealt with outages in the past. For example, In February 2012, they had an incorrect code for calculating leap year. In July 2012, there was a misconfigured network device. In 2013 they had an expiry of an SSL certificate and a worldwide partial compute outage. These outages and service disruptions should be considered even though they are not frequent.
Since Windows Azure is newer than the Brew platform, it is recommended to PFI to develop an application with the Brew platform. This is because they have been able to test and fix any bugs that have come up within the past decade and have proven that their technology works.
