[Chicago] Are you an app developer? Help make Firefox Marketplace amazing

[Kumar McMillan]

Hey Chipynauts,
I know there are many talented app developers on this list so I want to
introduce [yet another] app channel. This one is a little different though
because you can build apps completely in HTML5. Apps are pretty much just
like websites and we all know the best way to serve sites: Python! Mozilla
has been building integral platform pieces to make web apps feel native --
we believe there are only minor, fixable platform issues holding back the
web as an apps platform.

We just released the first part: Android integration. Check it out:
https://marketplace.mozilla.org/ As you'll see the apps are a bit limited
so I'm hoping that some Chipynauts will be interested in fixing that! The
app development / publishing flow starts here (and includes all the
documentation you need) : https://marketplace.mozilla.org/developers/
If you already have a mobile friendly website then turning that into an app
is as simple as adding a manifest file to your domain. If you already have
an Android app then publishing a web based one means you'll be ready when
we expand to other platforms (more on that later).

You need an Android phone or tablet to install apps from the Marketplace
(for now). You then install Firefox Aurora from
http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/mobile/aurora/ and the Marketplace is
available from the start screen. It's a pretty nice Android integration.
When you install an app it really does feel like an Android app.

It's been getting some good press and we'll be pushing for more press once
the Marketplace becomes available in the final Firefox for Android version.
Get a head start by publishing an app before the Marketplace hits the final
release.

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/10/first-look-mozillas-firefox-marketplace-app-store-for-android/
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57535935-94/developers-android-users-get-early-look-at-firefox-marketplace/
http://techcrunch.com/2012/10/18/mozilla-firefox-for-android-marketplace-launch/

In the future we'll enable web apps for many platforms, including Firefox
OS phones which will ship in South America early 2013. I wrote a longer
piece here about why we think building an apps platform on the web is the
right thing to do:
https://blog.mozilla.org/webdev/2012/09/14/apps-the-web-is-the-platform/

_

I miss you guys :( I've been moving house, traveling for work, and thus
missing meetings. I'd be happy to deep dive into some of the cool Python
parts of the Marketplace site at a future meeting [1] if there is interest.
Ideas:

- Solitude. This is like the planet Krypton where payment data is secure
and isolated from the world. https://github.com/mozilla/solitude/
- WebPay. This is the Mozilla hosted payment flow that loads when an app
calls navigator.mozPay(). The JWT crypto messaging is pretty cool.
https://github.com/mozilla/webpay

Both of those are Django apps. Payments aren't enabled yet for apps but
this is what I've been mostly working on.

[1] Ugh, I'll be out of town for the November one but in town for December.

Kumar
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