Brightcove App Cloud reviews

[Andrew]

The company I work for recently came across the Brightcove App Cloud platform and I was wondering if anyone in this group has experience using it and could give an unbiased review. Our team does mostly web app development, but we have a project coming up where the App Cloud platform may be a good fit for a mobile app that consumes some data from our API. On the outside, it looks very similar to Titanium Mobile, though I don't have enough experience with Titanium to know whether or not it's the same/better/worse, and how it compares to other platforms/solutions that exist.

--Andrew

[Eliezer Cazares]

I personally tryied bc's api and they dont support ios streaming. Hthey escalated the issue and finally offered an transcoded as a solution, a third party transcoder. Awful.

On Tuesday, May 8, 2012, Andrew wrote:

The company I work for recently came across the Brightcove App Cloud platform and I was wondering if anyone in this group has experience using it and could give an unbiased review. Our team does mostly web app development, but we have a project coming up where the App Cloud platform may be a good fit for a mobile app that consumes some data from our API. On the outside, it looks very similar to Titanium Mobile, though I don't have enough experience with Titanium to know whether or not it's the same/better/worse, and how it compares to other platforms/solutions that exist.

--Andrew

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[Adam Mark]

Hi Andrew,

First, as to the previous comment: Video Cloud does support HTTP Live Streaming, and you can use it inside App Cloud apps. Here are some examples of App Cloud apps using HLS:

NBCU Screen It:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nbcu-screen-it/id501167754?mt=8

MET Opera on Demand:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/met-opera-on-demand/id505026963?mt=8

I work for Brightcove so my opinion is not unbiased, but here a few thoughts:

* App Cloud is really easy to use, and you can register for a free account to see for yourself.  https://register.brightcove.com/en/app-cloud

* It's different from Titanium in that it relies on the full front-end web stack (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript) while Titanium is almost 100% JavaScript.  Both great products, but with different approaches.  (Titanium requires you to use an Eclipse-based IDE plus install XCode and the Android SDK. With App Cloud, you can test your code locally using the App Cloud Workshop App (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brightcove-app-cloud-workshop/id441933276?mt=8) and then upload your code to App Cloud Studio to compile into native apps. All you need, more or less, is a text editor.)

* If you need runtime services like image transcoding, data optimization, analytics, push notifications, and remote configuration capabilities, App Cloud might be a great solution for you.  It's both an SDK and a suite of cloud services.

Please feel free to reach out to me directly with any questions.

Adam

[Andrew]

Hi Adam, I appreciate the reply.

[App Cloud] is different from Titanium in that it relies on the full front-end web stack (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript)

I'm curious how App Cloud uses the HTML and CSS to create a native mobile app UI. I can understand the Titanium approach to writing it all in Code because that's how a real native app UIs are created (Obj-C and Cocoa on iOS for example). With Titanium, UI elements like lists/buttons are translated into the real native counterpart for performance reasons so they feel native, but with App Cloud...is everything just a WebView? Or is there similar translation magic that happens? Also, is the App Cloud compiler running PhoneGap behind the scenes? Or is it a proprietary system designed by Brightcove?

Side note: I tried finding a "getting started guide" on the Brightcove website, or even some documentation on App Cloud and I couldn't find anything. I found some API documentation, but out of context without an understanding of how it all the pieces fit together, it means nothing to me. Does Brightcove have a getting started guide somewhere that I can read? Good documentation is extremely important to me when deciding to adopt new technologies.

--Andrew

[Adam Mark]

Andrew,

See http://support.brightcove.com/en/docs/getting-started-app-cloud

We're working on reorganizing the web site to make this content easier to find.  (If you create a free account and log in, there are links to this content from the dashboard.)

As to your other question, App Cloud creates hybrid-native apps.  Most of the UI is contained in multiple web views (a typical PhoneGap app uses a single web view) and there are some native components as well, such as the nav bar, alerts/modals, and things that are ancillary to the UI, such as the camera interface.  So it's a mix—the good thing is that you can create your layouts using HTML and CSS, then use JS to drive them.  We developed our own container, which we consider to be better in a few important ways: 1. We use multiple web views, which makes it easier for the container to manage memory (the container can tear down individual views to recover memory); 2. We cache data for each view individually, which makes it faster to toggle between distinct areas of your UI; 3. We enable native navigation schemes for each platform, which gives you a more native experience.  Finally, our SDK has methods for communicating with App Cloud's runtime services.  For example. bc.core.getData() loads an optimized data feed.

Adam

[Brent]

Regarding the pricing structure, I would love to see something for small 1-3 person shops who don't want to commit to $15,000 just to get an app in the store.  This is a huge speedbumb/roadblock for the little guy and will always make Titanium or Corona a more attractive path.

My .02 cents.

Thx Brent

[Jess]

Adam. The examples you listed are not accessible by the public. Can
you share some apps that are viewable?

On May 10, 4:21 pm, Adam Mark <adammar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Andrew,
>
> First, as to the previous comment: Video Cloud does support HTTP Live
> Streaming, and you can use it inside App Cloud apps. Here are some examples
> of App Cloud apps using HLS:
>
> NBCU Screen It:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/nbcu-screen-it/id501167754?mt=8
>
> MET Opera on Demand:http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/met-opera-on-demand/id505026963?mt=8
>
> I work for Brightcove so my opinion is not unbiased, but here a few
> thoughts:
>
> * App Cloud is really easy to use, and you can register for a free account
> to see for yourself.  https://register.brightcove.com/en/app-cloud
>
> * It's different from Titanium in that it relies on the full front-end web
> stack (HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript) while Titanium is almost 100% JavaScript.
>  Both great products, but with different approaches.  (Titanium requires
> you to use an Eclipse-based IDE plus install XCode and the Android SDK.
> With App Cloud, you can test your code locally using the App Cloud Workshop
> App

> (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/brightcove-app-cloud-workshop/id441933...)

[Adam Mark]

Check out AMC Mobile for iOS or Android.

Adam

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[Adam Mark]

You can get started for free with App Cloud Core:

http://www.brightcove.com/en/content-app-platform/editions-and-pricing

Then you can upgrade to Pro for as little as $99/month.

$15K was the original enterprise pricing model—you should disregard that.

Adam

On Mon, Jul 16, 2012 at 10:20 PM, Glenn <anzi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking into Brightcoves App Cloud for my company at the moment.
> Can someone give me more information on this $15,000 cost? Is it separate to
> the $99month subscription for pro?
> That could definitely be a show stopper for me.
>
> Thanks,
> Glenn

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