WHERE Developer Program overview
- Why should I develop a WHERE application?
- What technical knowledge is required to build a WHERE application?
- I'm a developer. In a nutshell, how do I build and launch a WHERE application?
- Do I need a mobile handset with the WHERE application in order to build a widget?
- How do I publish my WHERE application to the WHERE user base?
- How much does WHERE cost?
- How can I make money with WHERE?
- What carriers is WHERE available on?
- Who created WHERE?
- Where can I find free hosting space to build my first WHERE application?
- What are my options for viewing my WHERE widget as I develop it ('Emulator Testing' and 'Handset Testing')?
- Where can I get more information about phone emulators?
Why should I develop a WHERE application?
Here are 5 reasons why to build on WHERE:- It's easy to get started. Your first WHERE application could be created in 5 minutes.
- You will be one of the very first developers ever to access aGPS on a carrier network.
- You can make money now. See below.
- You can make more money soon. WHERE launched just a few months ago, and our audience is growing quickly.
- If you wanted to build your own mobile GPS app and launch directly on a carrier, it would probably cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and require a time period of 2 to 3 years. We know this, because we've been through the process before!
What technical knowledge is required to build a WHERE application?
Anyone building a WHERE application should be comfortable with HTML and Javascript and be able to do write code using a web programming language such as PHP, Cold Fusion, Ruby, etc. A WHERE Developer will also need to have the ability to host pages of mark-up text on a server which are accessible to the public Internet. (top)I'm a developer. In a nutshell, how do I build and launch a WHERE application?
Building a WHERE widget requires the following steps:- Use a text editor to create pages of WHERE mark-up text that correspond to each page of your WHERE application. This is analogous to designing HTML pages and Javascript.
- Upload your WHERE mark-up text to a server that is connected to the Internet. Your server must have a consistent URL or IP address.
- Log into your WHERE Developer account and provide the URL of your WHERE application's 'home page'.
- View your widget in the WHERE phone emulator or, if you have a supported phone model, on your phone.
Do I need a mobile handset with the WHERE application in order to build a widget?
No, you can build and test your widget using our phone emulator. (top)How do I publish my WHERE application to the WHERE user base?
All widgets must be certified by WHERE before becoming accessible to the WHERE user base. The certification process takes into account several factors:- QA and design standards.
- Appropriate content.
- Adherence to consumer privacy guidelines.
How much does WHERE cost?
The WHERE Developer Program is free to developers. The WHERE consumer mobile application does have a monthly recurring charge. This charge varies by carrier, but is typically about $3 per month. The charge appears on the subscriber's phone bill. In addition, the subscriber may pay data fees according to the data plan they have available through their carrier. (top)How can I make money with WHERE?
WHERE Developers can make money directly by providing a subscription link on their website. Every click on the link that results in a new WHERE subscriber will earn $5.
Additional monetization programs based upon usage are also available.
If you're interested in having someone contact you regarding WHERE monetization programs, please send an email to create@where.com. (top)
What carriers is WHERE currently available on?
Since launching in Spring of 2007, WHERE has become available on dozens of handsets on Sprint and Alltel. We are expanding rapidly, and anticipate a number of announcements soon. (top)Who created WHERE?
WHERE is the result of three years of mobile GPS software development by the company uLocate. Through our experience in this industry, we have build a number of proprietary technology and business relationships that allow us to access GPS on carrier networks. In partnership with the carriers, we are opening this capability so that third party developers can quickly build and deploy mobile GPS applications. (top)There are a number of free and cheap hosting providers out there. Some of our developers have successfully used Ripway [http://www.ripway.com]. It's free and easy to register, though following the registration page you will need to keep clicking on 'Next Offer' to get past the advertisements. (top)
What are my options for viewing my WHERE widget as I develop it ('Emulator Testing' and 'Handset Testing')?
Since WHERE is a mobile application, there is no way to view your WHERE application in a web browser. For this reason, we provide two ways to view your WHERE application during development.Phone Emulator Testing:
Any registered WHERE developer can use the WHERE phone emulator to view their application. This emulator runs as a Java applet and works on most PCs and Macs. If you have any troubles getting the emulator working on your computer, take a look at the Phone Emulator FAQ entry. You can also contact us at create@where.com.
Handset Testing:If you have a supported handset that runs the WHERE application, you can test directly on your phone. Visit http://www.where.com to see if WHERE runs on your phone. If you have a supported phone and don't wish to pay the monthly subscription for WHERE, please contact us at create@where.com and we can provide you with a free version for development purposes.
(top)Where can I get more information about phone emulators?
The easiest way to get started developing with WHERE is with our online emulator.
There are two online device emulators available, the Samsung A900 with screen width of 240px and the Samsung A960, with screen width of 176px:
Samsung A900: http://webstart.mpowerplayer.com/developer.where.com/create/emulator/240.jad.jnlp
Samsung A960: http://webstart.mpowerplayer.com/developer.where.com/create/emulator/176.jad.jnlp
The emulator should come up shortly as long as your Java runtime environment is properly installed. Subsequent starts of the emulator will be much faster. If the emulator does not appear, most likely there is a problem with your Java runtime environment. You can debug your runtime here:
http://mindprod.com/jgloss/installingjaws.html
After the emulator starts, the Java console should appear. The Java console provides all the information available to help debug your widget. If the Java console does not appear, right click on the Java coffee cup icon in the system tray. If there is no coffee cup icon you need to run javacpl.exe which is most likely located here or a similar path:
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_10\bin
Once the Java console has opened, click on the "Advanced" tab, expand the "Java console" option and then click on "Show console". Exit mpowerplayer completely and restart. There may be a mpowerplayer icon in the system tray. Make sure you exit that as well.
After restarting the emulator, enter the following URL to see Hello World:
http://developer.where.com/create/samples/helloworld.txt
When your site is setup to run JIN pages, simply point the emulator to your start page. Thats it ! You're ready to develop a GPS capable mobile application.
Sprint SDK:
The Sprint SDK is another emulator option which provides a choice of 240px and 176px width devices.
Download the 240px and 176px ZIPs:
240px width: http://developer.where.com/create/emulator/240.zip 176px width: http://developer.where.com/create/emulator/176.zip
Open the ZIP and take a look at "readme.txt" for instructions on setting up your project. Its very straighforward.
Nokia SDK:
The Nokia SDK is another emulator option.
Download the 240px ZIP:
Nokia N95: http://developer.where.com/create/emulator/app-prod-where-N95EMU.zip
I Still Need Help:
If you have problems with any of the emulators, please post a thread on the Where Google Group. We are checking for new posts all the time:
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