Mr Aaron Chan: Developers who are more accustomed to traditional C/C++ development will find developing apps using MoSync SDK a very familiar experience.

With mobile application development fast become a ubiquitous activity these days, Mobile Sorcery is focused on helping the huge community of traditional PC developers get up to speed.

Mobile Sorcery was launched in 2004 in Sweden (where it is called MoSync) and established Mobile Sorcery Singapore in May last year to function as its regional headquarters.

The company’s core product, MoSync SDK (software development kit), helps developers address issues associated with the fragmented nature of the global mobile ecosystem, such as the need to develop solutions for multiple platforms and markets.

“One of our founders has been working with mobile companies in Scandinavia and through his work and experience with cross-platform technology, he started building up a core system to help make mobile development a much easier experience,” said Mr Aaron Chan, Regional Manager for Mobile Sorcery. “That system eventually became
MoSync SDK.”

The company, which uses MoSync SDK to develop mobile applications for its clients, also makes the open-source development platform available at no cost through its dual licensing model.

“MoSync SDK is unique in the market as one of the largest open source mobile development SDK and it is a truly cross-platform solution,” noted Mr Chan. “Developers and companies are not tied in to a proprietary product they have no control over.”

In addition, by intentionally choosing C/C++ as the development language, Mobile Sorcery is able to tap onto a huge developer community to popularise its platform. “Developers who are more accustomed to traditional C/C++ development will find developing apps using MoSync SDK a very familiar experience,” he added. “It also makes porting of existing libraries much easier than other high level languages.”

With its cross-platform capabilities, MoSync also cuts down on go-to-market time for new product launches for smaller companies which do not have the luxury of employing multiple teams for different platforms. The SDK currently supports Android, iOS, Symbian, Windows Mobile 6.5, Java and Meego. “MoSync SDK offers itself as a nice supplementary alternative to native development on Apple/Android,” noted Mr Chan.

Mobile Sorcery Singapore is focused on product development, sales and marketing and business development in Asia. “Singapore has all the key factors to be a great operations base for the bigger regional market and it is also attracting a lot of interest from Silicon Valley and Europe,” said Mr Chan.

The company also received a grant from the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) for its R&D activities. “Having such a grant helps us to attract talents while keeping our costs down during the initial critical period,” noted Mr Chan.

The availability of skilled manpower will be critical to the startup’s future success, said Mr Chan, who emphasised the importance of promoting computer engineering as a career choice for future undergraduates.

"Moving forward, we are working with several partners in the region to establish a presence in the respective local markets. We are also going to start offering commercial MoSync licences with support to companies interested in having a guaranteed level of support,” he said. “We need more talented engineers to join us.”