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Mobile developers get offline sync in new Amazon SDK

Mobile developers get offline sync in new Amazon SDK

The upgraded SDK makes extensive use of Amazon's Cognito service for user identity and data sync

With features such as offline sync in the new version of its Mobile SDK, Amazon Web Services is hoping to lure developers away from the cloud services offered by Google and Apple.

The software development kit aims to make it easier for iOS and Android developers to integrate Amazon's cloud services such as storage, computing capacity, databases and messaging with their apps. Mobile SDK version 2 is now generally available after being offered as a developer preview since July.

The new version of the SDK supports offline sync using Amazon's Cognito service. Requests are queued when the device is offline and then are executed when Internet connectivity is available. Using Cognito, app preferences or game states can be synced and saved without writing any backend code or managing any infrastructure, according to Amazon.

Cognito can also authenticate users with their Facebook, Google and Amazon identities.

As part of the AWS Free Usage Tier, developers receive 10 GB of cloud sync storage and a million sync operations per month for the first year. After that, the service costs US$0.15 for each 10,000 sync operations and $0.15 per GB of sync storage per month.

The updated SDK also includes support for Amazon's mobile analytics features. Developers can use those to collect data on app usage, user engagement and revenue. They can also create and keep track of custom events specific to their apps, including when users tap a button or finish a game level.

The company offers a free tier with 100 million events per month. Beyond the free tier, Mobile Analytics costs $1 per million events per month.

Amazon has published guides for using the iOS and Android versions of the kit. Developers can also take a look at iOS Samples and Android Samples on the AWS Labs GitHub repo.

Send news tips and comments to mikael_ricknas@idg.com

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Tags mobilesoftwaremobile applicationsapplication developmentAmazon Web ServicesDevelopment tools

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