Richard: AppForge appears to have a strong relationship with Sony Ericsson from the outset. With Nokia the interest seems to have on the Series 80 Platform but not so much for the Series 60 Platform. What is your view of the relationship?

Chris: Our relationship with Nokia is very strong. We are a partner and members of Nokia Forum PRO. We have worked very closely with them to introduce AppForge support for the Nokia 9300 and Nokia 9500 devices, at their request.

We've had support for both the Series 60 and the Series 80 Platforms, with longer support for the Series 60 Platform simply because it was released before the Series 80 Platform.

Richard: Given Nokia requested the implementation on the latest Series 80 devices is the interest in Symbian OS development using AppForge being pushed or is it being pulled. How much interest are you seeing in developing for Symbian OS using AppForge?

Chris: The development choices enterprises are making have to do with their need to move into the mobile market. They see new devices are coming out and they want to mobilize their people, a lot of the time without a regard for the devices they carry. The issue enterprises have is that their developers know the Microsoft Visual Studio tools. So enterprises are looking for a way to solve this issue, allow their developers to push applications down to any device, without having to be concerned about getting locked in. Symbian OS devices, Nokia's 9300 and 9500, and Sony Ericsson's P900 and P910 are becoming very popular and enterprises are seeing the need to support these devices.

So we are seeing both "push and pull" as you put it. Enterprises want to support these devices with their Microsoft code and the manufacturers want to see the additional flexibility for enterprise developers that AppForge provides.

Richard: The latest versions of your tools now support C#. Does this work in exactly the same way as your Visual Basic support?

Chris: Yes, exactly the same way, except you use C# to do the development instead of VB.net. So we now support Visual Basic 6, Visual Basic .NET and C#. Now developers can use the language that they are most comfortable with, the language in which they already have code.

A large number of the corporations are trying to mobilize applications from the laptop environment. They see these new mobile devices as laptop replacements. With AppForge they can leverage a large portion of the code they have already written to run on these mobile devices. They have to rework the UI, but backend logic, the business and enterprise routines - that work to their particular requirements - a lot of that can be used on a mobile device without change.

Richard: In terms of the AppForge libraries do you deliver two sets or just one, which service both C# and Visual Basic?

Chris: It is one set of common libraries. So both developers have the same set of functionality, no one is restricted in what they can do.

Richard: Your Symbian OS support lacks some features, such as backend data synchronization, that you provide for other platforms. Do you plan to provide these features?

Chris: We are working with a number of our partners and looking at providing these features. This is something that we are keenly aware of and are looking for ways to solve.

Richard: As devices move to Symbian OS V9 many applications will need to be Symbian Signed to work. How will applications created with Crossfire fit into this certified world?

Chris: Applications created in AppForge Crossfire will work in the Symbian Signed model. We are working with Symbian so that when the time is right for us to port to Symbian OS v9 we will have support for certification in place. We will ensure that our Crossfire client and the applications that use it work with the new security model.

Richard: How do you see certification impacting the accessibility of Symbian OS to enterprise developers who are currently able simply to deploy applications to a device?

Chris: During the development phase it certainly won't be a problem as developer certificates will allow access to all the capabilities. When it comes to deployment I think large enterprises are supporting the Symbian OS security model, so they will embrace certification.

Richard: In terms of AppForge customers what is the interest in Symbian OS compared to other platforms?

Chris: I don't have the exact numbers but Symbian and Nokia view us as very strong partners. They believe it very important that Crossfire is supported across the board on the Symbian OS based platforms, Sony Ericsson also views us as a key player in delivering enterprise applications for Symbian OS devices.

Richard: A few years ago AppForge seemed focused on small 3rd party developers as much as enterprise developers. Has the focus moved more heavily towards the enterprise?

Chris: I think we have always been enterprise focused. A few years ago enterprise spending on development tools declined, so we placed more emphasis on the consumer market. Enterprises have been increasing their investment over the last couple of years, so we have really been getting back to our roots.

Richard: Enterprises seem quite concerned about the ability to control and manage smartphones. Are there would any specific management requirements associated with AppForge applications?

Chris: One of the advantages that the developers have using Crossfire is that it not only generates applications that look and feel like native applications, but they also install using the native mechanisms. So the enterprise can use any device management and application provisioning system available on the market, as they are not provisioning a special type of application, simply another application on the device.

Having said that, device management is something that we are interested in and we are looking at partnerships to work with companies in this area. We know that our customers want not only to have applications, but a total solution.

Richard: So how do you see the third party market developing, is it important to you?

Chris: We certainly see it as important. In fact we have created a specialized ISV program. This provides special pricing on the clients and different options to get those clients to their end customers. We have also introduced a solutions center , an area for ISVs to show case their wares and direct potential customers to their website. This provides a way for enterprises to find pre-packaged solutions, because they might not necessarily want to develop from scratch.

We also provide a market for vendors, component SDK partners such as IBM and Sybase, who provide components that extend Crossfire.

Richard: You used to have an on-line on-device shop client, you do still have that?

Chris: It's not something that we are currently supporting. We created it for Sony Ericsson to accompany the introduction of the P800. There are now a number of specialized vendors in that market place so we are not developing the shop further.

Richard: Was it successful for the time that it was there?

Chris: It was very successful. In fact we still sell a few applications every month as there are still versions about and we have not shut the service down.

Richard: So how do you see AppForge tools developing in the future?

Chris: First, we want to be supporting the devices enterprises want to run their applications on, which is why Symbian OS support is very important. In parallel we want to make sure that we deliver the main stream development tools that the enterprise requires. Third is support for the process of taking an enterprise application and making it mobile, and that is what the introduction of our Datasync product was about.

Ultimately we want to make sure that our end customers always have the assurance that they don't have to be concerned about which devices come out, and how that would potentially affect them. We simply make sure that their investment in their software is maintained.

More information on AppForge Crossfire can be found on the AppForge Web site: www.appforge.com. More information on support for the latest Series 80 Platform devices can be found at Forum Nokia: www.forum.nokia.com/appforge. For the Sony Ericsson support see developer.sonyericsson.com.