Adobe Updates Mobile App Development Software

Adobe has released a new version of its Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) that will make it easier for government agencies to use mobile devices and improve citizens' ability to use their mobile devices to navigate and use government services and forms.

As agencies wrestle with developing mobile apps for their employees and users, AEM 6.0 makes it simpler to convert mobile-optimized web pages into mobile apps that can be accessed across many different platforms, including iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. This feature cuts the cost of developing cross-platform apps and speeds their deployment. A drag-and-drop interface also makes it possible for non-coders to make changes to mobile apps.

Adobe declined to identify which federal agencies have used AEM, but it told InformationWeek that the New Mexico Department of Transportation used an earlier version to revamp its website and deliver information faster to visitors. The state agency reduced its website pages from 874 to 72, less than 10% of its previous size, the company said.

[Learn more about Adobe's Marketing Cloud. See Adobe Takes On Marketing Rivals.]

Government agencies struggle to develop website designs that allow mobile-device users to access government services or forms, such as health benefits or tax forms.  That poses an unusual barrier for lower-income individuals and families. The Pew Research Internet Study released in October 2013 found that 45% of cellphone Internet users with annual incomes below $30,000 go online primarily via their cellphones.

Adobe said the updated AEM gives agencies the ability to create, manage, and release large volumes of PDFs, as well as simplify users' ability to navigate complex documents such as tax forms, which the company believes will make the forms more accessible to people most in need of services.

"The product advances announced today by Adobe represent a significant step forward in helping marketers to more effectively and easily deliver personalized and consistent experiences across the customer's channel of choice and in the customer's preferred language," Barbara Venneman, Deloitte Consulting's principal and digital national manager, said in a statement.

Find out how a government program is putting cloud computing on the fast track to better security. Also in the Cloud Security issue of InformationWeek Government: Defense CIO Teri Takai on why FedRAMP helps everyone.