With Startup Weekend NYC Mobile rolling into town this weekend, I took advantage of a free demo from one of this event’s sponsors. Yesterday EachScape’s CEO Ludovic Collin proved to a room of coders, business types, and at least one blogger that they could produce a very-high quality iPhone app without a line of Objective C. Obviously a useful feature for hackathons, but EachScape is not at first what it seems.
I was expecting a rigid toolbox in which non-tech types like myself could click their way to a respectable app. With memories of configuring ShoutEm and OnePager–both good choices for their small biz target market–I assumed that EachScape would be in the same genre.
Not quite. While it is possible to punch out an uninteresting mobile app with a few clicks, there’s much more to this app creator. EachScape looks a little like an Integrated Development Environment or IDE (see this video) but without all that messy code. After watching Collin show off its powers, I became pretty convinced EachScape was as capable as its more developer-oriented cousins.
Ludovic Collin’s iPhone with his EachScape app.
You don’t need to know a language or much HTML to perform some very clever tricks, including embedded video, telephony, data access (XML/JSON), ecommerce, and also fine control of the display. The grunt work is done by a user contributed library of components that are adjusted through a small panel of exposed fields.
I finally got it: EachScape is somewhere between a content management system, like WordPress, and a drag-and-drop IDE. But it is far slicker than WordPress, without those confusing templates, and not nearly as complicated as something like Eclipse for Java.
While watching non-programmer Collin create a RSS-feed viewer, I focused on EachScape’s built-in iPhone emulation. He was able to drop components into a virtual screen, and then we all gazed in wonder as it rendered this as a kind of wire-frame.
Web-designers, who are really the intended power user, would have no trouble getting EachScape to really shine.
Unlike WordPress (don’t mean to pick on it), designers have access to, as we like to say in tech marketing, a “rich set of device events and actions.” Again, no coding at all. So what you can do with this? How about automatically triggering Shazam when a user watches a video.
EachScape produces native code–IOS,Android–or if you prefer HTML5. There are allowances for different device forms, so that a different view can come up for an iPad versus an iPhone. With device independent layouts, of course, the key is always in the design, and that’s something a HTML-savvy user can tweak for ultimate flexibility.
Why haven’t we heard more about EachScape in the tech press? This product is used by the pros. Their list of clients is heavily weighted towards media players (A&E, NBC, CBS, Time Out, CNet), who are, in very un-startup fashion, actually paying for a license. So think of this as something like ShoutEm for the 1%.
However, all is not lost for the remainder. Collins told us that a lite version of EachScape is in the works, which would allow hackers and developers who don’t have the budget to play and then pay when they’re ready.
Tags: app inventor, eachscape, ludovic collins, onepager, shoutem, startup weekend nyc
Where can we purchase this? There is no information on the web and I am still waiting for a reply from Eachscape for instruction on where we can buy.
Steve, We will try to get an answer from the EachScape folks.
Thank you so much. I have been trying for too long now to make contact.
Any word?
We’ve not heard back from our contact. In the meantime, you may want to check out a service we just learned about, called “Infinite Monkeys”: http://www.infinitemonkeys.mobi/
It’s not quite the same as EachScape. Less control of the screen and interactions, but still worth looking at. We’ll have a post on Infinite Monkeys later today or tomorrow
–Editor
Thank you for your efforts. That service doesn’t look as clean and extensive as the Eachscape version.
When you get details, please post!
In the meantime, check out Mobile Roadie, an EachScape competitor:
https://mobileroadie.com/
-Editor
Thank you. This seems like a good alternative!
On second examination – It does not have the functionalities to handle data the way eachscape does. How it is that hard to get in contact with anyone with Eachscape and why do they not have purchasing information online? It is very frustrating as I have been trying for weeks.
When I went to see their demo, I got the sense they were heads-down working on some new stuff. Anyway, I’ve not heard back from my contact there. As soon as I do, I’ll ping you.
–Editor
Ye I figured that much. Their twitter has been in-active since the day I tried to make contact! So I guess we will have to wait. Thanks so much.
Hello again Editor,
Any follow up by the Eachscape folks? It’s been over 6 weeks I have been trying.
Radio silence. We’ll keep you posted if we hear something.
–Editor
Wow, that’s not very good business! How can you shut off all points of human contact!?
O well. Thank you for your efforts! Means alot.
Sorry for the lack of response. EachScape is currently available to the enterprise, with our new lite version in the works, as Steve says. Please contact me at info@eachscape.com (with technoverse in subject line) if you’re interested in our enterprise version or want to be notified when we launch Lite.
Thanks