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Category: SmallSociety

Small Society Wants to Have You over for Lunch

IOS development shop, Small Society (@smallsociety) will be hosting Lunch 2.0 on April 6. Bring your iPad 2.

If you read here, you’ll know that Portland has a burgeoning mobile development scene. You don’t have to read here to know that, but we do talk about it a lot.

Small Society was in on the ground floor of the mobile app explosion (insert hipster meme here), and founders Raven Zachary (@ravenme) and James Keller (@semaphoria) have built a extraordinary team of iOS developers who crank out magical apps for big and small brands alike. Read More

There’s a whole bunch of Portland magic in that little Amazon Gold Box on your iPhone

That’s right. Bringing the magic of the Amazon Gold Box to the iPhone was none other than Portland iPhone agency Small Society.

Yesterday, you might have heard that that little bookstore to the north of us released an iPhone app for Amazon Deals. What you may not know is that—de facto hub of mobile development that it is—Portland played a role in bringing that iPhone app to fruition.

That’s right. Bringing the magic of the Amazon Gold Box to the iPhone was none other than Portland iPhone agency Small Society. Read More

Small Society, big impact: Portland iPhone agency donates $10,000 to local charities

[HTML1]Without a doubt, 2010 showed us that mobile development was one of the most interesting and full-of-potential segments of the Portland startup community. We saw any number of startups—from individual app developers to full fledged companies—release compelling technology and collaborate with name brand clients, time and again.

For some, that success means they can do a little more. It means that they can share that success by giving back to the community. That’s why Portland’s Small Society—arguably one of the most successful mobile outfits around town—donated $10,000 to Portland area charities. Read More

Zipcar iPhone app shifts into gear

A few months back during Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, the folks at Apple got up on stage to demonstrate a very cool little iPhone app for Zipcar.

The app—designed by Portland-based iPhone agency Small Society—allowed you to find and reserve Zipcars, unlock your car, even honk the horn. But for all the bells and whistles, the app had one major problem: it wasn’t available to the general public. Until now. Read More

Portland’s Small Society builds an iPhone app for a little coffee shop called Starbucks

[HTML2]Turns out even coffee shops need iPhone apps. Well, they do if they’re Starbucks. Two even. And now the official Starbucks iPhone drink app—myStarbucks—is available from the App Store.

Yes, yes. Starbucks is headquartered in Seattle, I know. And even though a number of sites were covering the app launch—including Portland-based iPhoneSlutz—I didn’t really have any Silicon Forest angle on it.

So why am I writing about it now? Well, because as it turns out, the Starbucks app was created by none other than Small Society here in Portland. Read More

The Oregonian on Apple, iPhone, and the Portland mobile scene

The Oregonian’s Mike Rogoway (Happy Fathers’ Day, Mike!) has a great piece about the burgeoning market supporting Apple products—especially with iPhone app developers—here in the Silicon Forest.

Portland-area startups mentioned in the article include Portland-based Urban Airship, Small Society, GadgetTrak, PheedYou, and Vancouver-based Avatron. Read More

Shopping for an iPhone 3.0 app? See what Small Society has cooked up with Whole Foods Recipes

Shop local for iPhone 3.0 apps by trying the Whole Foods Recipes app, the latest project released by Portland-based Small Society

Today, there are tons of people waiting. And waiting. And waiting. Standing in line to get the latest Apple iPhone, the iPhone 3G S. But anyone with an iPhone can grab the new operating system, iPhone OS 3.0. And once you’ve done that, you can snag some cool new apps.

Looking for one to try? Shop local by trying the Whole Foods Recipes app, the latest project released by Portland-based Small Society. Read More

Portland’s Small Society plays big role in Zipcar iPhone app

Local iPhone development agency Small Society—with whom I apparently have a bit of a fanboi obsession—made it to the big stage at the Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) when Zipcar was asked to demo their upcoming iPhone app.

Urban Airship wasn’t the only exciting Portland-based iPhone news, today. Local iPhone development agency Small Societywith whom I apparently have a bit of a fanboi obsession—made it to the big stage at the Apple Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) when Zipcar was asked to demo their upcoming iPhone app.

“Small Society is working closely with Zipcar to bring Zipcar for iPhone to market,” said Raven Zachary at Small Society. “We love our friends at Zipcar.”

And apparently, so does everyone else. Take a look at some of the highlights from today’s coverage of the WWDC mentioning Zipcar. Read More

Zachary and Keller iPhone agency has a name: Small Society

Back in February, we got word that Raven Zachary and James Keller were starting a new iPhone agency to help clients build compelling and beautiful iPhone applications.

An agency model for application development? Would it work? Given the resulting backlog of clients—which is always impressive but especially in this environment—it seemed that it was an idea whose time had come. There was only one small problem: the agency didn’t have a name.

Now, the small team has managed to carve out enough time from client work to name the fledgling agency. Introducing Small Society:

In times of great innovation, cross-disciplined and talented individuals have come together to bring new ideas to life. It is in this spirit that our team has built a company that wants to help change the way people connect with each other and experience the world around them through iPhone OS.

We believe that the iPhone platform represents a major shift in mobility and provides a compelling opportunity for businesses to deliver new products and services, whether native or web-based, to a global audience.

Why did it take so long to come up with a name? Quite frankly, the team has been busy with other pursuits.

iPhorest mapLike what? I’m glad you asked. Here are a couple of their recent releases.

  • iPhorest, while developed prior to the official agency formation, has been released to the App Store. It’s an application that allows users to purchase a virtual tree to grow on their iPhone. Even better? Purchasing and planting a virtual tree results in a real tree being planted, as well. According to the map, though, the so-called Silicon Forest is seriously lagging on the tree planting.
  • CLIF Bar Save Our Snow app allows users to get check resorts for the latest skiing and snowboarding conditions from their iPhones. But the coolest feature is the most useless one: blowing into the microphone causes the screen to ice over.

The Small Society site is still under development. Until it is complete, raven.me remains the primary resource for information on the agency and its efforts. For more information, you can also follow @smallsociety on Twitter.

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Six Portland-area mobile app developers and consultants to watch

I keep an eye on a bunch of people who work on mobile apps. Most recently with the Obama for iPhone app. I thought it might be helpful to give you a glimpse of some of the Portland Oregon mobile app scene.

[HTML1]Yesterday, it dawned on me that I keep an eye on a bunch of people who work on mobile apps. I’ve covered them from time to time—most recently with the Obama for iPhone app—but I thought it might be helpful to give you a glimpse of some of the folks who are making things happen in the mobile app scene.

And lo and behold they just happen to be from the Silicon Forest. Go figure.

Avatron Software (Vancouver, WA)

Talk about starting off on the right foot. Avatron’s first commercial application for the iPhone, Air Sharing (NOTE: iTunes app store link), is well on its way toward becoming the most popular iPhone application, ever.

“Founded in April 2008 by Dave Howell, a six-year veteran Apple engineering manager, Avatron is a leading developer of popular applications for the iPhone and iPod touch. Avatron’s Air Sharing application, downloaded by nearly one million users in its first week, has raised the bar for iPhone application design and software quality.”

For more information, visit Avatron.

Cloud Four (Portland, OR)

The folks at Cloud Four have really come into their own in the world of consulting on mobile apps—especially when it comes to things like usability. (What? You actually want people to be able to use the app?) They’ve put in some impressive (volunteer) work on the Obama for iPhone app and equally impressive (paid) work on the interface design for the Mobile Wall Street Journal app.

“But what’s remarkable about Cloud Four is not our individual talents, as extensive as they may be. It’s where we overlap that we really shine. Instead of working separately in our spheres of aesthetics and engineering, we look at the building of Web sites and applications as a cohesive process, not just a series of database views or mockups. Cloud Four is proudly based in Portland, Ore., but we serve customers worldwide.”

For more information, visit Cloud Four.

FreeRange (Portland, OR)

If any company is the “founding father” of the burgeoning Portland mobile scene, FreeRange is it. With customers like the Wall Street Journal and the Portland Trail Blazers—and one of the most impressive mobile feed readers on the market—FreeRange is sure to keep Portland associated with mobile apps for a long time to come.

FreeRange Communications was created in 2004 because using the browser to get information on a mobile phone didn’t work so well. It still doesn’t work well enough (no offense to the wizardy of Apple’s iPhone), and it’s not likely to become really great for a very long time.

For more information, visit FreeRange.

GoLife Mobile (Hillsboro, OR)

The folks at GoLife Mobile are working to make mobile application development and adoption easier for both developers and consumers. And by building a Java-based framework that runs on practically any handset—and in so doing allowing practically any application to run on any handset—they’re moving down the right path.

“GoLife Mobile Corporation was founded by industry veterans with the desire to create a mobile lifestyle environment that enhances how people interact with technology, each other, and the physical world around them. This is the true birth of ubiquitous computing. We foresee information flowing smoothly between ubiquitous, integrated devices and networks, seamlessly converging to provide useful, personal, context sensitive services.”

For more information, visit GoLife Mobile.

Don Park (Portland, OR)

The owner of the first—and only—Openmoko open-source phone I’ve ever seen, Don is always working to make things as open as possible. His latest project? Developing a mobile social location application for the soon-to-be-released open-source mobile platform, Android.

In his own words (via the Los Angeles Times):

“But Don Park, an independent developer in Portland, Ore., said he would focus on Android phones for his location-tracking software because he likes that openness.

“‘Phones weren’t interesting a few years ago,’ he said. ‘Now cellphones have become the new personal computer.'”

For more information, visit Don Park’s personal site.

Raven Zachary (Portland, OR)

Ever since the iPhone was introduced, Raven Zachary has been leading the thought on developing for the platform. As the creator of iPhoneDevCamp, chair of the upcoming iPhoneLive conference, and consultant to a number of iPhone developers in town and around the nation, Raven knows everything happening in the world of iPhone development—and he’s influencing a great deal of it, as well. Not only that, he served as the project manager on the Obama iPhone app, one of the most popular iPhone apps in history.

But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what Raven has to say.

“I love the iPhone. But that shouldn’t surprise you, because 90% of people who own iPhones love theirs too. But if you look into that 90%, I’m in the .1% of those people who don’t think of it just as a lovely phone, but as some agent of change that impacts us on a deep level – makes us more connected, more informed, more a part of the global network. And, hell, it’s wicked cool.”

For more information, visit raven.me. [UPDATE] Raven Zachary has co-founded an iPhone agency called Small Society. For more, see the Silicon Florist coverage on Small Society efforts.

BONUS! Mobile Portland (Portland, OR)

If you really want to stay in tune with what’s happening in the Portland mobile development scene, there’s no better place than the Mobile Portland group. The fledgling organization also holds regular meetings to discuss topics affecting the mobile scene.

“Mobile Portland is local user group focused on mobile development. We gather on the fourth Monday of every month for presentations, discussion and networking.”

For more information, visit Mobile Portland.

Who else?

As I mentioned, these are the folks I’m tracking. No doubt there are countless others I’m missing.

Has someone impressed you with their mobile development fu? Or maybe you’re a mobile developer who needs to toot his/her own horn a bit more?

Please, by all means, link it up below.