Mobile Coupon App with LBS Awareness

The Client

Azoft was engaged in a project aimed at making everyday shopping activity as comfortable and advantageous as it had never been before. Q-Pon is a European company operating in several countries providing local businesses with new marketing opportunities and their end-users with an option to use coupons relevant to their location and interests.

The Scope

Develop a location based service, which included a cross-platform mobile application able to receive information on all nearest available discount coupons, and a connected server-based application able to process and store the information on coupons’ statuses.

The Solution

Within the framework of the project there was developed a mobile application compatible with most modern cell phone models, and enabling a cell phone user to look through a categorized list of available discount coupons in any place of interest be it a local store nearby, or a suburban mall with hundreds of different stores there. The application consults on the list of available discount coupons, and also gives a real opportunity to use the coupons immediately at any point.

Whenever a registered system user comes to a shopping spot, s/he only needs to run the mobile application on his/her device and chose coupons to be used. The coupons are grouped into 10 categories or shop names, and are offered to the user according to his/her current location. In turn, to pinpoint the location, the GPS receiver of the mobile phone is used.

To provide this service the mobile application requests necessary data from a remote server via GPRS channels. In turn, the server data is being constantly updated by registered on the web server coupon vendors. To make the server and mobile parts work together Azoft’s engineers were to develop a know-how protocol and a server module enabling smooth communication of the parts and correct GPS data processing.

Technologies

J2EE, iPhone, J2ME CLDC 1.1/MIDP 2.0, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Google Maps

The Challenge

Despite the clear logic of implementation, the main challenge was a need in a unique secure protocol able to tie the mobile and server parts in a reliable and stable system. The aggressive delivery timeline of the project demanded Azoft developers to combine their experience, innovative approach, and stamina in order to complete the project as planned.

The Outcome

Started first in the heart of the Netherlands’ system now covers several European countries and is ramping up its set of services. Moreover, now there is no need to download and install the mobile application as there is an opportunity to look through the web-based list of coupons with a mobile phone browser, which makes the service available for users of any mobile devices. What is more, any user can send information about fancied coupons to a friend via SMS or e-mail.