our technology
When Vindigo Studios set out to translate our flagship product, the Vindigo city guide, from PDAs to phones, we ran into problems familiar to anyone interested in delivering content to a mobile device: multiple platforms, inconsistencies across handsets using the same platform, limited code space, inability to update applications after launch, and more. Rather than writing multiple custom versions of our application, we realized that a browser-like player would be more efficient. We set out to create a player powerful and flexible enough to deliver any kind of content.
The result is Vindigo's Server-driven User-interface Definition System or SUDS™. SUDS is a thin downloadable client for BREW and Java handsets. To create applications, we use SUDS XML-based markup language to define the user-interface elements and other actions that the handset should take. The markup is passed through a proxy that validates its syntax and turns it into a compact binary format, which is sent back to the SUDS client. That client renders the markup on the handset, creating a rich user interface with zero client-side coding.
SUDS enables Vindigo Studios and our partners to:
Build applications faster and more easily
- Apps are written quickly and efficiently in markup, not in native C or Java
- Support is built in for ringtones, wallpaper (using interlaced graphics), telephony, and location-based services (including interactive maps)
- Every SUDS app runs automatically on every one of the dozens of handsets that the SUDS client supports . launching across multiple carriers is seamless
Leverage carrier billing platforms
- Every carrier offers third-party billing for downloadable apps, like SUDS products, but not every carrier offers billing for browser-based apps
Optimize wireless delivery of content
- SUDS controls and images are rendered incrementally as they are delivered across the network, instead of waiting until the transmission completes
- Smart caching of content on the handset improves perceived speed
Dramatically reduce the cost of carrier-grade certification
- SUDS allows control over the look, feel, and behavior of the app from the server, without having to modify the client code and resubmit it
Thanks to SUDS and other patent-pending technologies, Vindigo Studios has won contracts to build applications on behalf of household names including MapQuest and The New York Times. We have also used SUDS to build our own best-selling consumer applications, Vindigo city guide and MovieGoerTM film guide. We're the masters of the third screen™. Find out how we do it.
