This week the news has been awash with Tesco’s latest value item – the £119 Hudl
But what’s lesser known is that much of the software is down to a London startup. Tech City News takes a look Novoda, the company behind some of the tablet’s core Apps.
Before Android
Back when Android was merely a work in progress, Kevin McDonagh was already on the scene.
He and Carl Gustaf Harroch were part of the original Android Developer Challenge, which took place just as the OS was being launched.
We didn’t win – but we now hire people who did
Having met in an IRC chatroom discussing #android, they soon decided to form a company specialising in it.
The team were excited to be working to make technology aid an interconnected society, and saw Android as being far greater than just smartphones.
If phones were wiped out tomorrow, Android would still survive.
Great heights
Since birth, Novoda has grown quickly, and has worked with the likes of Meetup, Songkick and Podio. They put this success all down to referrals.
We quickly got a good reputation with handset manufacturers – and good work spreads
For them, getting a gig with the likes of Tesco didn’t seem too difficult – people who’d worked on the concept of Hudl already knew of Novoda.
What they wanted was more than just an app – a complete user experience. We put out those vibes well and people understood that.
The bread and butter
Novoda’s biggest delivery for Tesco was creating their flagship grocery app. It needed to offer something more than what you could get on Tesco’s website, or on other apps.
We wanted something that was useful but playful
The result is a virtual shopping experience designed to mimic everything handy about having products on shelves in front of you. Kevin imagines customers looking through the cupboards in their kitchen, with their Hudl in their hand – adding the items they’re low on to their virtual basket as they go.
Even if you used it for nothing else, buying the Hudl for grocery shopping is still worth it
Ready for launch
What really made Novoda an integral part of the device though was creating the launcher screen. Pressing the T at the bottom of the screen presents the user with a list of all the product offerings – music, TV, Clubcard, banking and of course grocery shopping.
Instead of just presenting a list, we wanted to give something that excites users and makes them realise the value of what they’re seeing
Cheap as chips
Kevin insists that the Hudl is still better quality than many of its competitors, despite the price.
Clearly Tesco have done an excellent job procuring the various elements of the tablet at the best value possible.
It took a good team and a lot of effort – and it’ll get cheaper and cheaper.
Where next?
Unsurprisingly, Novoda are looking for new challenges, and are in the process of expanding to Berlin. Television is one area they’re keen to work in more, and they’re already working with French TV company Arte.
Novoda will always be Android, and we’re constantly shouting from the rooftops that we are the world’s foremost android developer.
Not only that, but the team are as passionate as ever about Google’s operating system.
People talk about global interconnectivity and that there has to be an operating system underlying it – I believe that OS is Android.
Kevin expects to see Android popping up everywhere, from vending machines and cash registers to trains, cars and satellites. And he wants Novoda to be part of it.