At Furious Tribe we’ve been quietly working away for the last few months on improving our Apptivate platform.

When we first launched Apptivate in 2010, we created a highly disruptive business model that allowed enterprises to build and manage their own Apps for iPhone.

Since then, we’ve sold thousands of Apptivate licences all over the world and we’ve also added multi-platform support and a host of other new features to better meet our customers needs.

Today we’ve added the biggest and most exciting feature since Apptivate’s initial launch and we think it’s going to be a game changer for both our product and our customers.

We’ve introduced an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) into Apptivate so our customers now have total control over their Apps. Using our IDE, our customers now have the power to break free of our pre-built modules and templates and completely customise everything about their App, from the placement of a button to complex user interactions. Now our customers can edit or create code within the Apptivate IDE and make use of web technologies like jQuery mobile, CSS and javascript to make their mobile Apps come to life.

Files and folders are easily created and saved, and users have the option to choose their preferred colour theme to code in.

We’ve changed the user journey for creating new Apps a little bit. Users now have the option to create either a ‘Simple’ or an ‘Advanced’ App. Users can only use the IDE with an Advanced App, however for clients who don’t need the IDE our pre existing modules are still available via a Simple App. Within our new system, users can create multiple Apps within the one account, and you can assign version numbers and notes to go with each App.

We know from working with some of our Enterprise customers both locally and internationally that this is exactly the kind of feature our clients want to be made available to them. All our product development is directly influenced by what we’ve learned by working with clients such as RSA, AXA Global Distributors, Davy and Danone to name a few.

We’ve recognised that there is a strong demand from the Enterprise market for strategic mobile consultancy coupled with innovative technology that allows enterprises to have control over the maintenance of their Apps. We believe the Furious Tribe offering is meeting our clients’ needs but we’re not stopping there. We’ve already moved on to developing new functionality and we’re looking forward to releasing even more innovative features for Apptivate in the very near future.

Furious Tribe has just launched a revolutionary new “App Builder” platform, this news comes as the mobile market is tipped to grow to US$17.5bn.  The new www.ApptivateHQ.com platform will

allow anyone to easily and inexpensively build mobile App’s for their company or organisation. While ApptivateHQ will initially focus on the iPhone platform, Furious Tribe have plans to add iPad and Android support in the near future.

With over 4.6bn mobile subscribers world wide, the launch of Apptivate is a strategic move that will position Furious Tribe as a leader within in the European App market claims Managing Director, Patrick Leddy.

Furious Tribe has already done well in the enterprise market acquiring accounts ranging from O2 to Citibank, EMI Music, Royal Sun & Alliance, RTE, TV3 and more. While we have always seen a strong demand in the enterprise market, we have witnesses and “insatiable demand” for mobile Apps in the SME market Leddy claimed.

We realised that SME’s needed to go mobile as well, but more often than not, they lacked the budget to deliver meaningful mobile experiences.  We identified this gap in the market and 12 months ago, and work on ApptivateHQ.com began Leddy added.

The ApptivateHQ.com is provided as “platform as a service” it is entirely web based and allows anyone to build and manage iPhone Applications.  The product is based on a freemium business model meaning that ApptivateHQ.com is completely free to sign-up and build your first App. You can build a fully functional App and then preview it in the web based simulator before publishing to the Apple App Store.

ApptivateHQ.com charges $399 submission fee for publishing of Apps + a $25 monthly fee.  The monthly fee includes hosting of your App on the ApptivateHQ Cloud and on-going access to the ApptivateHQ CMS. Thanks to our patent pending technology this means that you can update your content at any time without the need to resubmit your App to Apple claimed Leddy.

The new platform is a perfect example of a disruptive business model, currently developers charge up to $500 per day for iPhone development services.  Our product aims to “level the playing field” and turn the market on it’s head.
Now everyone can have a mobile App to represent their business and engage customers on their own terms.

It’s a simple, pay-as-you-go service claims Leddy, no need for a contracts and you can cancel at anytime.  It is the simplicity of the offering that allows brand managers to bypass their IT departments, and simply sign-up with the company credit card. The platform is completely self contained, we manage the servers, technology & submission to Apple. We will substantiate a monthly fee through continually adding value to our offering – with improvements added weekly meaning everyone is always on the latest version.

The platform will be targeted primarily at the north American market and will focus initially on launching App’s for newspapers, popular blogs, bands & events.  Yesterday Furious Tribe signed a deal with EMI Music Ireland, one of their enterprise customers – to publish a number of Artists on the Apptivate platform – starting with artist “Codes”.

“Mobile is the future, and companies that do not adopt a mobile strategy in 2010 – will become reactive followers in 2011” Leddy warned.