Engagement/Developer Engagement/FirefoxOSAppsv2

Mozilla Firefox OS Apps & Marketplace Developer Engagement

Owners: Havi Hoffman, Christie Koehler, Mark Coggins

Status: Draft

Review Protocol: If you own an action item, please feel free to make edits directly to your items in the plan. Likewise, if you wish to add an activity for you or your group, please add it directly to the plan. Otherwise, please use the "Discussion" menu item above to record suggestions and feedback. Havi, Christie or Mark will make sure that you receive a response in the discussion area or that your comments are incorporated. Thanks.

Goals

The overarching goal of the plan is to generate enthusiasm and build a vital developer ecosystem around HTML5, Open Web Apps and Mobile Apps for Firefox OS. In the short to medium term, we seek to:

• Encourage and enable developers to populate the Firefox Marketplace with 100 quality apps for the initial launch
• Encourage and enable developers to populate the Marketplace with 1000 quality apps six months after initial launch

Audience

By Developer Type

• HTML5 App Developers: HTML5 app developers with existing apps that can be ported/moved to Firefox OS
  • HTML5 Game Developers
  • Chrome App Developers
• Web Developers: General web developers unfamiliar with HTML5 specifics/or mobile app UX who can be encouraged to build quality apps via events, training, enablement resources & incentives
• Mobile App Developers: iPhone & Android app developers with existing apps that can be ported or recoded to Firefox OS, leveraging translation tools when possible
• Other: Interested Java, C++, etc. developers who are motivated by affinity with the Mozilla community to support Firefox OS by contributing apps

Observed Developer Demographics By Region

• Brazil: Mainly Web Developers and Others, often drawn from university or Free Software environments; very little base of HTML5 or Mobile App Developers
• Others: TBD

Strategy

• Make training, documentation, design guidelines and sample code available on MDN, DevHub and the Mozilla Hacks blog
• Facilitate community-driven developer support with oversight from Mozilla
• Provide developer tools to aid in app emulation/simulation and validation
• Collect and synthesize developer feedback to suggest improvements in the platform and improve developer uptake
• Use incentives such as an app contest and paid-for consulting services to engage and move developers through the app development lifecycle
• Employ conference talks to generate awareness and raise developer interest in HTML5, Open Web Apps and Firefox OS
• Host a series of world-wide MDN events on Firefox OS app development in January in a lead-up to MWC; coordinate with app contest
• Target existing HTML5 and mobile app developers and encourage them to migrate their applications to Firefox OS

Participants & Stakeholders

Developer Engagement Team (Stormy Peters)

• Technical Evangelism team (Mark Coggins)
• Mozilla Developer Network (MDN) team (Ali Spivak)
• Contributors from the Global Mozilla community
  • Doc sprint contributors
  • Localizers
  • Speakers, community leaders and evangelism reps

Marketplace & Apps Program

• DevEcosystem Team: (Fred Wenzel Engineering / Daniel Buchner PM)
  • Devhub website
  • Tools
  • Apps & Marketplace

Developer Experience/Developer Tools

• Kevin Dangoor PM/Dave Camp Engineering

Mozilla Support Team (SUMO)

• Apps & Marketplace support (Ibai Garcia)

Partners

• Telefonica
  • Blue Via
  • Wayra
  • Vivo/Terra
• Qualcomm

Activities by Phase

The following describes activities of the plan by phase. Commencement of the developer-facing activities for a particular phase will be tied to satisfaction of its dependencies (for example, availability of devices) in order to avoid engaging developers when needed resources or the maturity of the platform makes it unlikely they will succeed. (Note: this does not mean that plan participants will refrain from working toward needed deliverables for future phases.)

Activities for earlier phases may continue even after new phases commence. For example, efforts to raise awareness in the developer community about Firefox OS will continue for the full duration of the plan.

Explanations of the categories of activities used in each phase are shown below in the Category Definitions section.

I. Raise Developer Awareness

Dependencies

• Firefox OS project initiated

Anticipated Time Frame

• Throughout project

Activities

Category	Activity	Owner	Date/Link to Details
Events	Conference appearances to provide education on and promote HTML5, Web APIs and Open Web Apps	Developer Evangelists + Evangelism Reps	Ongoing Speaking schedule
Events	Hackathons in Brazil and elsewhere to educate and engage local developers	Shezmeen Prasad, Havi Hoffman	Jul - ongoing [link to event page]
Content	Mozilla Hacks posts on HTML5, Open Web Apps and Firefox OS	Developer Evangelists, Mozillians, Recruited Authors	Ongoing [link to editorial calendar]
Content	Initial MDN pages on Firefox OS, Apps and associated tools	MDN Developer Documentation team	Done
Content	Initial DevHub design and deployment	DevHub content, product, engineering	Done
Content	MDN Home Page Redesign to highlight FFOS & Marketplace/apps	Ali Spivak	Redesign kicked off, will have draft plan by Oct. 15
Content	Initial definition of what constitutes a quality Firefox OS app	Havi Hoffman / Joe Stagner	Done (Hand off to Lisa Brewster, Marketplace Reviewer)
Training	Train Evangelism Reps in community to effectively promote HTML5, Open Web Apps and Firefox OS	Christian Heilmann	Ongoing Reps wiki Evangelism reps Facebook
Tools	First versions of desktop simulator & emulator	B2G team w/contributions from Jeff Griffith, team	Done
Support	Stand up initial Google groups page for community Firefox OS support	?	Done Mozilla.webapps Mozilla.webapps.pt-br

II. Enable App Prototyping

Dependencies

• Solid, easy to use desktop emulator/simulator
• Platform code complete, Web APIs stable & performant
• Access to demo phones

Anticipated Time Frame

• October 2012 -

Activities

Category	Activity	Owner	Date/Link to Details
Content	Plan to rationalize and synchronize MDN and DevHub	Ali Spivak, Fred Wenzel, Mark Giffin, Others	in process (plan due 11/1/12)
Tools	Release and documentation of R2D2B2G emulation tool	Myk Melez, Dev Tools stakeholder, MDN stakeholder	?
Content	Sample app with blog post and other documentation describing its construction	?	?
Support	Scope developer support needs and identify resource to monitor support channels	Janet Swisher / Ibai Garcia	?
Support	Establish Brazil community support mechanism	Continue	?
Feedback Capture	Identify and benchmark existing HTML5 games on native Firefox OS to gauge portability & identify performance bottlenecks	Rob Hawkes	Games identified; benchmarking ongoing, weekly report available by request
Feedback Capture	Gather, synthesize and communicate developer feedback to Firefox OS, Apps & Marketplace, Platform team	Developer Evangelists	Ongoing

III. Enable Marketplace Readiness

Dependencies

• Availability of devices for use by developers Phone Deployment Plan
• API signature freeze
• iOS/Android app converter (nice to have)

Anticipated Time Frame

• December 2012 -

Activities

Category	Activity	Owner	Date/Link to Details
Content	Flesh out Firefox OS documentation on MDN/Devhub	Ali Spivak / Eric Shepherd (MDN)	Docs are in process. Reference: Sales Tools Docs list
Content	Develop performance tips & tricks guidelines	?	?
Content	Develop UI style guidelines	Collaborated on first draft / July 2012	?
Contests & Incentives	Launch community app development contest targeting MWC 2013 as award venue	Havi Hoffman / Christie Koehler	Sec Review passed Contest rules reviewby Brazil counsel Need to identify localization resource and app tester to work w/Vendor Need to determine scope of Challenge as BR-only, or Spanish language or run 2 challenges
Contests & Incentives	Launch Incentives trials for Mobile UX, Code review workshops & 1:1s	Havi Hoffman	Mobile mentorship workshop pilot - Bryan Clark @PapayaVentures
Support	Reach out to HTML5 games developers identified for benchmarking and encourage app submission	Rob Hawkes	?
Tools	Release and document iOS/Android app translator tool	?	?
Support	Provide community-driven app localization hub on MDN/Devhub	Ali Spivak/Daniel Buchner	?
Contests & Incentives	For qualified developers, provide access to professional UI design consultancy	?	?

IV. Support App Goal for Brazil Launch

Dependencies

• Code Freeze
• Performant rendering, particularly for game apps

Anticipated Time Frame

• January 2013 -

Activities

Category	Activity	Owner	Date/Link to Details
Events	Hold Firefox OS Developer days in multiple venues world-wide during one week in January to build momentum for MWC	Developer Evangelists + Evangelism Reps + ?	?
Tools	Lint-like tool to validate adherence to app guidelines (Extend scope of Cvan's prototype manifest checker	Wil Clouser	?
Content	Starter app framework to provide head start for app construction, perhaps in targeted app area like sports or games	?	?

V. Expand Reach

Dependencies

• Regional go to market plan with schedule

Anticipated Time Frame

• March 2013 -

Activities

Category	Activity	Owner	Date/Link to Details
Content	Provide a taxonomy of application types with a prioritized list of desired apps to encourage development	?	?
Content	Publish a series of videos highlighting selected apps and associated app developer(s) to describe technical approaches and marketplace success	?	?
Events	How-to webinar series for app developers; done live on-line and posted to MDN/DevHub	MDN (Janet Swisher & Mark Giffin) /DevEcosystem /Apps engineering	?

Category Definitions

Category	Definition
Content	Formal documentation on MDN or DevHub, blog posts on the Mozilla Hacks blog, social media interactions, sample code, videos, training materials, archived presentations and design guidelines.
Contests & Incentives	Contests to drive submissions to the Marketplace, or other incentives such as design consulting to encourage developers to move through the app development lifecycle.
Events	Talks at non-Mozilla conferences, participation in partner conferences and Mozilla-sponsored events, face-to-face and over the web.
Feedback Capture	Collection and synthesis of developer feedback on Firefox OS to be given to Mozilla engineering team.
Support	Community or Mozilla-driven support to answer developer questions on developing Firefox OS apps, or other 1:1 interactions to enable or encourage app submission.
Tools	Tools such as emulators and simulators that enable the app development process.