Today, Joshfire publishes the first applications factory targeting desktops, mobiles, tablets, connected TVs and connected things. Based on open Web standards, the Joshfire Factory lets users create applications with just a few clicks, abstracting away the specificities and technical divergences of the underlying hardware. The Factory features a marketplace coupled with a platform of services, targeted at webmasters and application developers. Companies that are used to invest a lot of resources in the development of applications may subscribe to a dedicated Pro offer and benefit from a streamlined production solution to develop cross-device applications.

Service and content providers have been facing the issue of technology fragmentation since the rise of smartphones, tablets, and smartTV. Up until now, an application had to be designed once per screen type and per technology. The Joshfire Factory revolutionizes this approach. In the same way CMS tools such as WordPress or Drupal revolutionized the Web around 2000, the Joshfire Factory lets editors create cross-device applications in a few simple steps. The creation process involves the selection of datasource connectors, an application template, possible add-ons, and the list of devices to target. Within minutes, the Factory may generate Web applications and binaries for all types of screens and platforms. Current version is compatible with Web applications, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, MacOSX, Windows, GoogleTV, Samsung TV, Philipps TV and LG smart TV.

The solution greatly improves applications lifetime. The Factory will integrate new devices as soon as they are released on the market. Given the clean split between datasources, templates, add-ons, configuration, and deploys steps, Factory users will save up to 3/4 of the development time needed to adapt an application to a new class of terminals. With the advent of the Internet of things and Ubimedia, about 10 billions of new devices will hit the market by 2020. The Joshfire Factory also aims at simplifying the adaptation of existing apps to these new objects.

Based on open standards and technologies, Factory users remain free: applications are built on open technologies such as HTML5, JavaScript and NodeJS. Most open source JavaScript frameworks may be used to create templates (including Sencha and JQuery). Each created application may be downloaded, including its source code, and hosted, maintained or updated outside of the Joshfire Factory.

Users of the Joshfire Factory may choose between three offers. A basic and free offer, to create multi-device applications in a few clicks or make developers’ life easier. A premium offer to create applications with a set of advanced components and value-added services. Eventually, a Pro offer targeted at businesses.

Contact : 

Michel LEVY-PROVENCAL 

Joshfire / CEO

m@joshfire.com

Steren GIANNINI 

Joshfire / Product manager

steren@joshfire.com

Sylvain ZIMMER

Joshfire / CTO

s@joshfire.com

Joshfire met sur le marché la première usine à génération d’applications dédiées aux postes de travail, aux mobiles, aux tablettes, aux TV connectées et aux objets connectés. Basée sur des technologies ouvertes et standard, la Joshfire Factory permet de s’affranchir des spécificités technologiques des différentes plateformes matérielles actuelles et de demain en permettant la création d’applications en quelques clics. Commercialisée sous la forme d’une place de marché et d’une plateforme de services, elle est dédiée aux webmasters et aux  développeurs. Les entreprises les plus consommatrices de ressources en développement d’applications peuvent aussi souscrire à une offre Pro et ainsi bénéficier d’une solution industrialisant leur processus de développement d’applications multi-plateformes.

La Joshfire Factory répond à une problématique connue des éditeurs de services et de contenus. Depuis l’arrivée des smartphones, tablettes et smartTV, les éditeurs font face au problème croissant de la fragmentation des technologies. Chaque application développée jusqu’à présent devait être conçue pour un type d’écran et une technologie particulière. La Joshfire Factory révolutionne cette approche. Au même titre que les CMS tels que WordPress ou Drupal ont révolutionné le marché du web dans les années 2000, la Joshfire Factory propose aux éditeurs de réaliser des applications multidevices en quelques clics. Pour cela il leur suffit de choisir des connecteurs de données (Datasource), des modèles d’applications (Templates), des fonctionnalités additionnels (Addons) et les plateformes cibles auxquelles ils veulent s’adresser. La Joshfire Factory leur permet en quelques minutes de générer des applications web et binaires pour tous types d’écrans et de plateformes techniques. La version actuelle de la Joshfire Factory est compatible Web, iOS, Android, Blackberry, MacOSX, Windows, GoogleTV, Samsung TV, Philipps TV et LG smart TV.

La solution augmente la pérennité des applications. En effet, elles pourront fonctionner sur les nouveaux terminaux du marché car elles bénéficieront des nouvelles fonctionnalités de la Joshfire Factory. Parceque cette dernière découpe le processus de construction d’une application en 5 étapes distinctes et indépendantes, elle permet d’économiser jusqu’à 3/4 du temps de développement à chaque adaptation pour un nouveau terminal. Avec l’avènement de l’internet de objets et de l’Ubimédia dans les prochaines années, ce sont près de 10 milliards de nouveaux terminaux qui sont attendus sur le marché à horizon 2020. La Joshfire Factory a aussi pour vocation de faciliter le portage des applications existantes sur ces nouveaux objets.

Basée sur des technologies ouvertes et standards, la Joshfire Factory garantie l’indépendance à ses utilisateurs. En effet, elle est bâtie sur des technologies ouvertes telles que HTML5, Javascript et nodeJS. Les applications réalisées peuvent être générées à partir de la plupart des frameworks open source javascript du marché (parmi lesquels Sencha et JQuery). Chaque application créée peut être récupérée dans son intégralité, code source compris, pour pouvoir être hébergée, modifiée ou maintenue si besoin à l’extérieur de la Joshfire Factory.

Enfin trois offres sont proposées aux utilisateurs de la Joshfire Factory. Une offre basique et gratuite permettant de créer des applications multi-devices en quelques clics ou de faciliter la vie des développeurs aguerris. Une offre premium permettant la création d’applications avec une série de composants et services à valeur ajoutée. Enfin une offre Pro dédiée aux entreprises.

Contact : 

Michel LEVY-PROVENCAL 

Joshfire / CEO

m@joshfire.com

Steren GIANNINI 

Joshfire / Chef de produit

steren@joshfire.com

Sylvain ZIMMER

Joshfire / CTO

s@joshfire.com

Among other events, we will celebrate this Wednesday (May 9) in our office the public launch of the Joshfire Factory.

Here is a list of events that Joshfire team members will attend. Ping them if you want to talk or arrange a meeting.

BlackBerry World 2012
May 1-3, 2012 – Orlando, U.S.
Thomas took the plane for Orlando as he was invited to the BlackBerry World conference.

Kiwi Party
May 4, 2012 – Strasbourg, France
Steren will talk about the role of web technologies in today’s and tomorrow’s internet of things.

Joshfire Factory Launch
May 9, 2012 - Paris, France
You are welcome for a breakfast at 10:30am at the Joshfire office to assist to the public launch of the Joshfire Factory. Michel will talk about the Joshfire vision, do a demo of the Factory to the public and answer all your questions.

The NYC JavaScript & HTML5 Monthly Hackfest
May 9 2012 – New York, U.S.
Sylvain will demo the Factory at this JS/HTML5 meetup during his trip to NYC. He will also be available in NYC from May 12 to 15 for rendez-vous.

Mobile Monday
May 14, 2012 – Paris, France
Steren will present the recently released Joshfire Factory to this event dedicated to HTML5 apps at La Cantine.

WebSchoolFactory Hackathon
May 11-13 2012 – Paris, France
Steren will be part of the jury on Sunday for this parisian Hack Day. He will also present the Joshfire Factory at the beginning of the event to help participants build apps quickly during the weekend.

SudWeb 2012
May 25-26 2012 – Toulouse, France
Thomas will give a 1-hour overview of the advantages of the Open Web for cross-device development.

web2day
June 1, 2012 - Nantes, France
Nicolas will attend web2day. Feel free to ping him to talk about the Joshfire Factory or the internet of things.

Over the air
June 1-2, 2012 – Bletchley Park, UK
François will be in London to talk about how we can use JavaScript and other web technologies to build applications that share a lot of code between platforms and that compete with “native” applications.

Looking forward to meeting you at these events. There are more to come in the future. If you want to invite us to an event or give us feedback, do not hesitate to contact us!

Joshfire has officially become a W3C Member to support open Web standards and contribute to linked data standardization efforts.

“I am very pleased to welcome Joshfire, first startup to join W3C as part of our Startup Membership program” says Bernard Gidon, EMEA Business Development Leader. “We are looking forward for them to work hand in hand with other W3C Members and shape the future of the Web.”

Joshfire develops cross-device applications. We use the term “cross-device” in its broadest acceptance. It encompasses usual suspects (mobile devices, tablets, desktops), recently connected devices (TV, set-top boxes), as well as connected objects of all kinds such as Le Miroir. These devices have heterogeneous form factors and purposes but share two important properties: they are connected to the Internet and run Web technologies.

Not surprisingly, Joshfire uses Web standards throughout its products to deliver great user experiences across platforms. The Joshfire Factory is no different. Factory templates are HTML5 applications, wrapped into native shims when necessary for deployment. Datasources that serve as template inputs are normalized according to schema.org and other vocabularies from the Semantic Web.

We believe that open Web standards are key to innovation in the Internet of things and we are proud to be  the first startup to join W3C under the Startup Membership program. Joining W3C is a first step. We will, of course, monitor progress towards standardization of HTML5, CSS, device APIs and related specifications but, as a startup, we cannot possibly contribute to all on-going efforts in W3C. Our short- to mid-term priorities are:

• Data normalization: in the Joshfire Factory, datasources serve as entry points for application templates. To ease data processing, feeds need to be normalized so that templates may integrate data whether the items originate from a content provider or from another one. We will contribute to discussions of the Web Schemas Task Force of the Semantic Web Interest Group for possible extensions to schema.org as it provides a useful core vocabulary to represent data.
• Linked data format: once normalized, data feeds are returned to templates in a JSON structure that is particularly easy to parse and process in JavaScript. We are keeping an eye on JSON-LD and will follow the corresponding JSON for Linking Data Community Group with a view to standardizing JSON-LD.
• Adoption of the Web platform: developing Web applications in heterogeneous environments is never easy. Fragmentation means that a lot of time is lost hacking a way around incomplete or not yet available implementations of a given standard. We will contribute to the Core Mobile Web Platform Community Group and follow the discussions of the Web Media Profile Task Force of the Web and TV Interest Group.

The web is our home. Prototyping is our second nature. We are looking forward to contributing to Web standards.

Built on standard and open technologies, the Joshfire Factory simplifies cross-device apps generation and maintenance. The solution opens its doors in private beta this week. The first users can get invitations at http://factory.joshfire.com

Content publishers’ and service providers’ life has been dramatically complicated since the proliferation of mobiles, tablets and connected TVs. Indeed, every year they spend a lot of energy adapting their services to new devices. The Joshfire Factory radically simplifies this approach by streamlining and industrializing app development processes for mobiles, tablets, connected TV and future electronic devices. The approach used by the Joshfire Factory is not to develop unique applications for each technological environment but to adopt open and standard technologies (HTML5 and javascript) and to minimize specific developments.

How It Works

Using the Joshfire Factory doesn’t require any technical or design skills. The platform breaks down the app generation process in 5 simple steps.

1st step: Choosing templates
The user selects an application model in a “templates” marketplace driven by developer communities. Each “template” incorporates specific features associated with dedicated goals. They are designed to run on computer screens, mobiles, tablets, connected TVs and some electronic products prototypes (like Le Miroir by Joshfire).

2nd step: Feeding with data
The user selects a set of data sources to feed the application. Indeed, a rich data connector library is available in the platform. The first version already includes several data types like: images, videos, sounds, texts, calendars and location-based contents as well as simple databases.

3rd step: Adding Features
The user adds functionalities to his application depending on his needs. Add-ons available today include analytics plugins, advertising modules and CSS tools.

4th step: Testing Preview
The cross-device app is generated instantly and a preview is available for various terminals.

5th and final step: Deploying the apps
The user builds a binary app in one click. After that it is then ready to be published on different platforms, including Android Market,  Apple App Store, Blackberry App World as well as web hosting on Amazon Cloud.

The Joshfire Factory is open in private beta. This first phase will help us to test and optimize the service. To receive an invitation please register on http://factory.joshfire.com

Joshfire was created in 2010 by Michel Levy-Provencal (CEO) and Sylvain Zimmer (CTO). The startup closed a first round in September 2011 from Kima Ventures (Xavier Niel’s fund) and several business angels like Jacques Antoine Granjon, Stéphane Distinguin and Arnaud Dassier. The company employs 15 people as of February 2012 and generated 500K€ revenue on its first year.

Contact: contact@joshfire.com

Construite autour de technologies standard et ouvertes (HTML5 et Javascript), la Joshfire Factory simplifie le processus de génération et de maintenance d’applications Cross-Device. La solution ouvre ses portes en version privée aux premiers utilisateurs détenteurs d’invitations cette semaine. Cette première phase permettra de tester et d’optimiser avec les premiers utilisateurs les fonctions de la plateforme. Pour recevoir une invitation il suffit de s’inscrire sur http://factory.joshfire.com

La vie des éditeurs de contenus et de services s’est largement compliquée depuis l’avènement des nouveaux écrans : avec la multiplication des mobiles, tablettes et TV connectées notamment. En effet, ils continuent à dépenser beaucoup d’énergie chaque année le plus souvent avec une approche “jetable” pour adapter leurs services aux nouveaux terminaux du marché. La Joshfire Factory propose de radicalement simplifier cette approche en rationalisant et mutualisant le développement d’applications web, mobile, tablette, TV connectée et  destinées aux futurs produits électroniques. L’approche proposée consiste à ne plus développer des applications uniques et jetables pour chaque environnement technologique mais à adopter des technologies standard et ouvertes (javascript et HTML5) et minimiser les développements spécifiques.

L’usage de la Joshfire Factory ne nécessite pas de posséder des compétences techniques ou de design particulières. La plateforme décompose le processus de génération d’application en 5 étapes simples.

1ere étape, l’utilisateur choisit un modèle d’application au sein d’une place de marché de « templates » alimentée par des communautés de développeurs. Les « template » proposés intègrent fonctionnalités et designs répondant à différents usages. Ils ont pour vocation de fonctionner sur écran d’ordinateur, mobile, tablette, TV connectées et demain d’autres produits électroniques.

2nde étape, l’utilisateur sélectionne un ensemble de sources de contenus alimentant l’application. En effet, une bibliothèque de connecteurs de données est mise à disposition par la plateforme. La première version intègre déjà des sources image, vidéo, son, texte, agenda et géolocalisation ainsi que des base de données simples.

3ème étape, l’utilisateur ajoute à son application des fonctionnalités répondant à ses besoins. Par exemple le suivi des statistiques d’usages, des modules d’affichages publicitaires, des adaptations graphiques…

4ème étape, l’application Cross-Device générée est instantanément visualisable dans un émulateur pour différents types de terminaux.

5eme et dernière étape, l’utilisateur construit en un clic son application prête à être publiée sur différentes plateformes, parmi lesquelles aujourd’hui Android Market, l’Apple App Store, Black Berry AppWorld ainsi que sur hébergement Web via Amazon Cloud.

Joshfire a été crée en 2010 par Michel Lévy-Provençal (CEO) et Sylvain Zimmer (CTO). Elle a effectué un premier tour de table en septembre 2011 auprès de Kima Ventures (le fonds d’investissement de Xavier Niel) et plusieurs business angels dont Jacques Antoine Granjon, Arnaud Dassier et Stéphane Dinstinguin. L’entreprise emploie en février 2012, 15 personnes et a généré 500K€ de CA au cours de son premier exercice.

Connecting an object to the Internet should not be a goal itself : it should only be a way to provide a functionality we feel is missing. But the most important in the result is the object itself. At Joshfire, we sometimes connect existing objects only to augment them, like the connected couch. But we also create some entirely new objects : Le Miroir, Foursquare check-in station, Twitter post station, connected radio, music box, … During all those projects, we have experimented a lot of different materials and crafts making skills.

Joshfire presents “Le Miroir” and turns a simple mirror into a complete multimedia station. As a connected object, Le Miroir proposes a fresh way to broadcast and consume content : with a simple touch, its reflective surface fades out and appears the content of your choice.

>> For more information :  http://lemiroir.joshfire.com

Born as a prototype, Le miroir is now a fully featured product used by major players such as SFR or France TV. We adapt and customize Le miroir to fit our customers business needs by providing dedicated applications or by changing its actual design.

A live demo of Le miroir during “Le Web 2011” :

On 4-6 of November, took place Hack Day Paris, a 40-hour marathon of hyper-intensive design and development that gathered more than 140 participants. Joshfire was involved since the beginning in its organization.

Hack Day Paris was the largest independent hackathon ever organized in France. Among the three organizers, we count Sylvain and Steren from Joshfire.

The only theme of Hack Day Paris was Build Something Brilliant. There was no API requirements or thematic restrictions, hackers were free to build whatever they wanted. We saw a lot of innovative and disruptive ideas: more than 40 projects were demoed on Sunday. Here are some remarquable examples: a real time chess game (Ninja Chess), a place to give old things (Freesbee), a musical keyboard using balloons , a wine suggestion service (Wine Combinator) …

To our surprise, the overall winner is a team lead by Pierre-Rudolf from Joshfire for his project “DIY NoiseBox“. The prize was given by an independent jury of professionals.

The Noise Box, winning project of Hack Day Paris

The NoiseBox brings back a physical experience into our digital music world. First, you associate music to meaningful objects such as pictures, postcards, flyers, tickets or any small object. Then, just by placing one of these on the box, the music starts playing and you can control it like a regular music player directly from the box.
This project is a brilliant mix between the sentimental, the physical and the digital worlds. It joins our vision: content is everywhere and objects are gateways to access it.

At the end of september, for the 3rd time, the Open World Forum has organized the Open Innovation Awards. This competition is designed to showcase open source projects on stage in a lively and entertaining way.

The Joshfire framework was one of the six finalists and our CEO was invited to present our product on stage for exactly six minutes, and convince the audience and the jury that their innovation may someday change the world.The jury was composed of:

• Jean-François Caenen, CTO, Capgemini
• Jean-Marie Chauvet, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, LC Capital
• Ludovic Dubosc, CEO of XWiki, and one of the winners of the 2010 edition
• Stefane Fermigier, Founder of Nuxeo and President of the Open Source Software Thematic Group of the Systematic ICT Cluster
• Tom Henriksson, Partner, Open Ocean Capital
• Jean-Luc Raffaelli, VP of Open Source Governance, Groupe La Poste