November 16, 2010

Rogers Catalyst helps bring apps of the future to life

New rapid deployment platform assists growth

Consumer appetite for mobile apps is growing at a rapid pace and the mobile application market is poised to generate revenues reaching $10 billion by the year 2015, according to data from the North American Mobile Market Report. To cater to Canadian consumer demand for new, next-generation mobile applications, Rogers Communications Inc., has announced it is giving the developer community unprecedented access to Rogers' wireless network assets through the new Rogers Catalyst  beta program, designed to enable the cost-effective, fast creation of mobile apps and services customized for the Rogers network.

A centralized, no charge, third-party developer portal, Rogers Catalyst  provides online access to several of Rogers' application programming interfaces (APIs) including SMS, location-based services and carrier billing. Leveraging the power of Rogers network API's, the handset-agnostic platform enables smartphone-like functionality on a large variety of Rogers mobile devices. With faster time to market, Rogers Catalyst allows developers to innovate quickly, test applications in minutes and enable a variety of mobile apps and services that can be accessed by Rogers' more than 8.5 million wireless subscribers.

"Customers today are looking for more ways to be productive, connected, make transactions and stay entertained through their mobile devices and Rogers is focused on continuing to drive new value for them," says Upinder Saini, Vice President, New Product Development, Rogers Communications Inc. "As Canada's largest wireless voice and data communications provider, Rogers champions innovation. We are pleased to offer the Rogers Catalyst  program to enable the developer community with faster time to market of mobile applications, provide easy access to our world-class network and share the APIs and tools to better work together to innovate for the future."

Through a simplified registration and project creation process, Rogers Catalyst enables developers to gain access to a number of SOAP and RESTfull APIs that will allow them to build compelling new cloud-based services which leverage the Rogers network.  In addition, Rogers Catalyst  includes access to click through agreements, code samples, documentation, tips and tricks, a development sandbox, as well as a larger developer community and the ability to interact with Rogers Catalyst program managers.

Rogers Catalyst is available now in Beta and software developers can join at no charge at www.rogerscatalyst.com. The program will continue to expand over the coming months.