KuneriLite – Innovative Flash Lite on S60


In this interview we speak with Ugur Kaner, CEO of Kuneri about the company, the products and what he sees on the horizon for mobile development.

Please tell a little about your company?

We are a talented team of designers, developers and strategists creating great looking mobile applications for people, and helping other companies to do the same. We primarily focus on Flash Lite and S60 technologies, highlighting user interface, interaction and innovation. We are based in Oulu, Finland and also have operations in Helsinki.

What background do you have, previous software projects, success cases?

We have been working behind the scenes for many years in mobile industry, and decided to step forward in 2006. Since then we have been working on our products and ideas. KuneriLite is our very first product and we are confident that it will be a success; not only for us, but also for everyone else. Our first project KISS60 is developed using KuneriLite and are very happy about the interest. In parallel to our production efforts; we have partnered with respected Finnish companies; working on unique mobile applications and user interfaces for world's leading brands.

What are the good and bad points about working in Finland’s “Silicon Valley”?

It's a great place for mobile a company, where technology and innovation is highly encouraged and supported. Its strategic location being close to well known mobile technology companies enables mobile business, and makes it possible to create new things.

We can't say there are many bad points, but surely some things that could be better. It's not very easy to find resources and business is mostly in south. But we see those as challenges, they don't stop us keep on going. Cold and darkness might be another unavoidable challenge, but we like to look things from brighter side; it helps us to focus on our work.

What challenges did you face in developing the application?

Biggest challenge we had was working on a new concept, with a new technology. Things change very fast in business and not always as you expect. You have to understand the market very well, foresee upcoming changes and be little lucky. Every strategical move of bigger players had drastic effects on our plans and implementation. But luckily we were flexible enough to adapt and react to sudden market changes.

Technically, creating a product fulfilling all S60 application quality requirements needed intensive work. It also was not very simple to design an easy to use interface and understandable process for developers who do not have any Symbian development experience. Different platforms and fragmentation also was an issue and we had to take some tough decisions. But in the end, I am glad to say that we are very pleased about the results and the end product.

In your view what are the main development opportunities offered by your technology.

We created a very stable and easy to use platform for all mobile application developers, especially working with Flash Lite. Our technology simply makes S60 development faster, easier and cheaper. This happens without any Symbian knowledge, with a Symbian-like performance and noticeably better user experience. Therefore we believe our technology allows developers to focus more on what they do, instead of how they do; bringing a new approach to S60 application development with Flash Lite. One of the great things about KuneriLite is that it's completely invisible to end users. Nothing has to be pre-installed, everything happens out-of-the-box without any extra requirements, making business easier for everyone.

How are you bringing your product to market?

KuneriLite is available to download, request or purchase directly from the web site. It comes with a very easy to use project manager (Wizard), which also can be used as a free SIS packager for any S60 projects. We provide KuneriLite for free, hoping to encourage students and enthusiasts to create free applications for S60, pushing the limits of innovation. It's also commercially available for a funny price, which I guess makes it clear that license sales is not our concern, but a factor used to improve the platform. We also offer custom, tailor-made solutions for enterprises that are creating global mobile products with KuneriLite.

How have you addressed hardware issues in your application design (memory – power consumption)?

We have been very sensitive on low memory and power consumption, as well as security, extensibility and small footprint. I can say that architecture is very well designed, considering different S60 phone form factors and features. Platform is implemented using pure Symbian C++ and has a plug-in system, which enables developers to use only the features and resources they need.


Having been through this project- what lessons have been learned?

It's not easy, but don’t give up. Things get better and better, if you have a good idea and believe in what you do.

What do you see as being important for your company in 2008?

We have been working hard to make KuneriLite a stable and easy to use platform. There is an increasing set of plug-ins and features for developers, and we work on new ones every day. 2008 is very important for us to gain visibility and get support of S60 and Flash Lite developer community. We see Forum Nokia as a great start and with further efforts we aim to make KuneriLite a success story this year.


http://www.kuneri.net