Thread: Shopping App for Android/iPhone

Has anyone created an application for Android or the iPhone/iTouch/iPad which has the full functionality of the store?

We would love to have an App where they can view and browse items and they can buy them also. We have the Google Checkout or they can go via Protx (SagePay).

I know version 9 has mobile skins that let you browse but not buy, and I know ver 9.1 will have the full checkout process however we are still interested in having an application.

Has anyone done this before, or have any ideas where to start?

Thanks in advance.

The core apps on the phone side is very simple. The mods on the ASPDNSF side arent super hard its moreso a re/write of user controls for the cart mobile base.

but as far as the phone side, all that is really needed is a webkit that points to your URL.

For the phone side I think waiting till ver 9.1 would be best.

In terms of the Apps for Android/Apple you believe it would be a simple re-write? Anyone attempted anything like this before?

One of my websites, that was still on ASPDNSF 6.2, could be navigated and place orders on using an android phone, now that it's "upgraded" you can no longer place orders. It blows up when the add to cart button is pressed. It doesn't seem to work for 8.0.1.2 or 9.0.1.3 websites.

What is the estimated timeline for 9.1 now that multistore has been released so we can get back functionality we had in prior versions of the software?

Hm, we have had an order come via an android phone so our cart may work online for phones, really it would just be re-skinning the site or porting the main components to an app.

I was actually referring to if you wrote an actual application to call the browser and load your page. Everything else would just be handled by the mobile site/skin. What you can do from there is of course dependent upon what version you're running.

e-tradecounter, thanks for your reply...it made me take a more finite look at what was going on when the error happened on android. For some reason when typing a web address into the android it was capitalizing the www at the start of the url. Everything went fine until it switched to ssl...that's when the site broke during the add to cart function.

It's weird because switching over the website to ssl while looking at the home page with capital WWW didn't cause an error, but the add to cart function does. All I can guess is that the android browser sees the WWW vs www mismatch on the certificate as less secure and stops the process.

I tried browsing the website in a non-mobile browser(IE FF, Chrome) and tried using capital WWW but it automatically switches to lower case...doesn't seem to do this when using androids version of chrome.

That problem on the Android phone should of been fixed with the latest update.

Anyone got any plans to make an app for the iPhone/Android?

Just thought I'd chime in because I know we have a client's site in version 8 that hasn't had anything mobile related done to is and there have been orders on iPad and iPhone.

I've been been looking at the mobile skin in version 9 too. I thought the idea was just to allow you to have a mobile specific skin and everything else be 100% the same but I was surprised to find the checkout disabled. Does anyone know why?

For an app I was thinking that the best method would be to write a generic set of web services, perhaps with the WSI as a starting point, and then create thin clients for each mobile platform. I'm generally against apps though as a nicely standards compliant site should work everywhere.

Originally Posted by rsudworth

I've been been looking at the mobile skin in version 9 too. I thought the idea was just to allow you to have a mobile specific skin and everything else be 100% the same but I was surprised to find the checkout disabled. Does anyone know why?

You can only browse on the ver 9 store. Something to do with security issues.

Plus we would like an application than just a mobile skin. The suggestion at WSI sounds the best so far.

I believe Android apps can be in Java so it could be a case of just porting the main aspects into a stand alone application.

With the iPhone I am not too sure, I have not looked into the SDK (You have to pay for it which put me off).

Originally Posted by e-tradecounter

I believe Android apps can be in Java so it could be a case of just porting the main aspects into a stand alone application.

With the iPhone I am not too sure, I have not looked into the SDK (You have to pay for it which put me off).

iPhone apps are written in objective C I think but that's about the limit of my knowledge I'm afraid! Hopefully this thread will help me learn a little more .

Just looking over the Android developer pages http://developer.android.com and the code looks closer to C++ that I had first seen. It does not look too difficult to implement an app, the only issue would be the taken of monies. Unless you could somehow work in a boomerang gateway or partner up with say a PayPal app developer.

I don't' think an APP would work, I think you simply need to create a mobile phone friendly front-end accessible via the browser

E.g. iphone.ebay.com this works well because it is designed for the Iphone.

Personally I would target each phone at a time because of the vast number of screen resolutions. (note in about 1-2 years pretty much all smart phones will be able to display at least 640x480 so something around this res would work well too.

A prime example of the type of customer we are targeting :
A man who owns an iPhone and is looking to buy a new table. He could go to the Ikea website however he goes and downloads the Ikea app and uses that.

I am sure Ikea have a fully functioning website for mobile phones but he did not even attempt to check their site. Downloading an app was quicker and in his mind easier if in the future he wanted to go back to it.

I questioned him why he didn't use the internet and he said it is just easier and quicker for him.

A website visited on a mobile phone is normally never visited again, few people browse the internet on mobile devices when an app can do it for them. Also an application is always there on your phone, when you go to buy a table before you open the internet you spy the Ikea app, thus you have a look because it is already there.

Really we want an app than another subdomain purely because of convenience. We want people to see our name and site even when not connected to the internet.

Originally Posted by Alkaline

E.g. iphone.ebay.com this works well because it is designed for the Iphone.

I guess as a prime example I have never accessed eBay on my android via the browser, always through an app.