Networking App for Metal Traders

Project Overview

Socializing with companies and employees within the same industry is beneficial to any business. Our client’s venture is one such social networking application that provides a business platform for metal trading companies and their employees to network. The system offers integrated services which users can access from several platforms such as web, iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry. QBurst developed the native application for BlackBerry using native Java technology with native BlackBerry SDK.

Business Requirement

The client caters to companies in the metal sector such as iron, stainless steel, and aluminum, with applications on popular mobile platforms such as iPhone and Android. They wanted to extend their services to the BlackBerry platform and offer similar features to BB users.

Connect with other users as a friend
Create their own company in the system or join an existing company
Create their own groups to categorize their social/private communities
Chat with connected users

Features

Registration: Users can access the application after a one-time activation process and will be authenticated on each access thereafter.
NewsFeed: This page displays posts from friends, groups, and administrators. User can create status posts, share images, and comment on other posts.
User Profile: Users can search and view individual and company profiles after sending connection requests.
Company Profile: Users can create a new company or join an existing company as an employee.
Company Group Profile: Based on business needs, companies can create groups and invite other companies to join the group, for sharing information of common interest.
Chat Feature: Instant messages can be sent to contacts.
Recommendations: Users can recommend possible connections that others might be interested in.
Contact Synchronization: Users can synchronize their phone contacts with the server to find contacts already using the application and connect with them.
Notifications: New connections, chats, and comments are notified to user.
Push Notification: The app notifies users even when it is inactive through the BB Push Service

Client Profile

Founded in 2007, the client offers real-time prices for ferrous and non-ferrous metal scrap across Europe and has customers worldwide. They partner with leading metal exchanges and provide useful information such as news on metals, trends, alerts, charts, and exchange rates.

Our Solution

We developed a BlackBerry app using the native SDK. The application accesses Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) services exposed by the client and renders the retrieved information to users.

Technologies

BlackBerry Push Service
SQLite
J2ME/BlackBerry native SDK 6.0.0
RabbitMQ
BlackBerry location-based service APIs

Technical Highlights

Caching at client side has been implemented for images, profile, chat history
Integration with RabbitMQ messaging system for implementation of notifications; communication based on STOMP protocol
Integration with BlackBerry Push Service
Support for all devices under OS 6.x and 7.x series

Business Benefits

Increased dealer accessibility has helped bring in more customers and revenue
Easy access to news and real-time information in the metal sector has helped to the expand user base

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