Interview with LYSESOFT, creators of AndFTP and S3Anywhere
by Android Tapp
Jan 13, 2009 5:01 AM –
In reviewing the Android App AndFTP, we felt Interviewing the creators of this app and other Android apps would be a great idea. Here’s the Interview with LYSESOFT:
AndroidTapp.com: Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
LYSESOFT is a small company that provide softwares and services for smart devices. It targets J2ME and Android devices. Our Android portfolio is growing fast. We plan to participate to ADC 2 as soon it will be opened.
AndroidTapp.com: Why did you create your app?
LYSESOFT: AndFTP is a FTP client for Android. This application is available on many desktop platforms and it was missing on Android one. So, we’ve developed it for all people who have a FTP server and need to transfer data.
AndroidTapp.com: What technology did you use in creating your App and why?
LYSESOFT: We’ve used a FTP library and many APIs available within Android SDK.
AndroidTapp.com: About how long did it take to create your App?
LYSESOFT: Around 30 days.
AndroidTapp.com: What is a cool uncovered tip or trick you can do with the App?
LYSESOFT: AndFTP comes with a device file manager. For instance, you can manage files (rename, delete, copy) on your SDCARD.
AndroidTapp.com: What other interesting uses can come from the App?
LYSESOFT: You can use it to backup your device data to a FTP server.
AndroidTapp.com: Can you tell us about future feature enhancements with your App?
LYSESOFT: We plan to improve the file manager to allow opening/viewing files. We plan to add recursive folders transfer too. Finally we plan to add FTPS and SFTP support.
AndroidTapp.com: What did you really like about creating Apps on the Android platform?
LYSESOFT: Android design is good. It’s quite easy to develop and support forum is really active.
AndroidTapp.com: What are some things you would like to see improved with Android?
LYSESOFT: XML support for transformation. Android SDK includes XML parser support but not transformation (XSLT). This feature is available in all standard Java SDK but it has been removed from Android.
AndroidTapp.com: What is your opinion of the Android App Market’s distribution method? In comparison Apple’s model (strict control over the iTunes store) or the Windows Mobile model (no store at all).
LYSESOFT: Having a single point for distribution could be nice depending on the services Google will provide. If they provide some checks on applications, then it’s safe for end-users and if they provide a solution to sell applications, then it’s nice for developers. Apple made a success will AppStore, everyone seems happy with this model, so why not trying again with Google.
AndroidTapp.com: What is your Opinion on the state of the Rating/Feedback system in the App Market?
LYSESOFT: It could be improved but most important information are here: How many download, install and rating.
AndroidTapp.com: Do you have plans on releasing Apps for other martkets (i.e. iPhone, Windows Mobile, Blackberry, etc.)?
LYSESOFT: Yes, we release applications for J2ME too.
AndroidTapp.com: Must-have Android Apps?
LYSESOFT: I like PicSay.
AndroidTapp.com: What advice would you give to another aspiring mobile application developer?
LYSESOFT: Everything is possible with Android, you have an idea then just go ahead.
AndroidTapp.com: Can you tell us what future Android Apps you have brewing?
LYSESOFT: Yes, we have S3Anywhere (which is already released in beta). It is similar to AndFTP but it works with Amazon S3. Do you know Amazon S3? It’s the Simple Storage Service provided by Amazon.com. It allows everyone (individuals, web designers, companies …) to store files on the web. It’s becoming more and more popular and S3Anywhere is an Android application that allows managing your remote S3 store (called buckets). S3Anywhere is available at: http://www.lysesoft.com/products/s3anywhere/index.html We also plan to improve BucketUpload, it’s another application dedicated to upload from Android. It supports several remote storage: S3, regular web server and FTP server. We plan to add Flickr and Twitter support. So you can see it has an universal uploader. It’s available at: http://www.lysesoft.com/products/s3-bucketupload-android/index.html
Best regards, Eric.
Thanks for Interviewing on AndroidTapp.com, we look forward to many more Android Apps! Don’t forget to check out our full review of AndFTP.