CM AppStore

[Geekles007]

PROJECT IDEA

Link : https://github.com/osscameroon/cm-appstore

A simple AppStore made in Cameroon and for Africa.

Introduction

In order to popularize what has already been done locally in Cameroon and in Africa in general, I think that this idea should consolidate the consumption made in Africa in the world of technology in general and the mobile in particular.

Why ?

It can be very difficult for some Cameroonians in particular to know what has been already done in his country in term of mobile application. That's why it's very important to create a platform that will make it easy for everyone to find them

Description

A simple App Store that will allow Cameroonians in particular and Africans in general to know what has already been done locally in terms of mobile application. This project aims at a consumption made in Africa of everything that is technically more precisely in the mobile field.

Labels

For the moment, it will be a web platform but in the future it could a mobile application too like PlayStore or AppleStore

[tericcabrel]

Thank you for this idea and I find it very useful. Why not start by the mobile application first? For me, I think it's suitable according to the purpose

[Geekles007]

Thank you for this idea and I find it very useful. Why not start by the mobile application first? For me, I think it's suitable according to the purpose

We can start by mobile application too. There is no issue for me, but we should just talk about technology or language to use.

[tericcabrel]

Yess we will schedule a time to discuss about that

[Geekles007]

Yess we will schedule a time to discuss about that

Great.

[guediagael]

There could be a website for exploration and a bot(cross-platform) for submission. Microsoft bot framework is a good tool to allow the bot deployment on many messengers that handle bots(slack, FB messenger, telegram).

[billmetangmo]

Hello,

I think that this is a good idea that needs to be more detailed . @tericcabrel @Geekles007 what was the result of your discussion ?

Otherwise I think this work should be based on free app store that already exists to be more efficient. I propose to base the work on https://f-droid.org/fr/ ( I already use it personally) which is a well-know FLOSS android store. The code ( web application, server , android client) is available here: https://gitlab.com/fdroid

I don't know an equivalent for Apple. But as Apple is more closed , I think this will be difficult to find. So I recommend to firstly concentrate efforts on Android with the assumption that ( i think it's correct but no studies found ) most of the cameroonians use Android intead of Apple because it's more affordable.

Have a nice day !

[tericcabrel]

There could be a website for exploration and a bot(cross-platform) for submission. Microsoft bot framework is a good tool to allow the bot deployment on many messengers that handle bots(slack, FB messenger, telegram).

Hi @guediagael! A website to browse available applications is a great idea! About the bot, I don't see how it can be used for submission. Could you descbribe the workflow for me please?

[tericcabrel]

Hello,

I think that this is a good idea that needs to be more detailed . @tericcabrel @Geekles007 what was the result of your discussion ?

Otherwise I think this work should be based on free app store that already exists to be more efficient. I propose to base the work on https://f-droid.org/fr/ ( I already use it personally) which is a well-know FLOSS android store. The code ( web application, server , android client) is available here: https://gitlab.com/fdroid

I don't know an equivalent for Apple. But as Apple is more closed , I think this will be difficult to find. So I recommend to firstly concentrate efforts on Android with the assumption that ( i think it's correct but no studies found ) most of the cameroonians use Android intead of Apple because it's more affordable.

Have a nice day !

Hi @billmetangmo! It is not an App Store. See it as an app to advertise mobile applications that solve a problem in Cameroonian society. Android is the prior but if we go for a multiplatform tool like React Native or Flutter, it will be possible to cover IOS.

[billmetangmo]

Oki I undertsand. It's a "vitrine" website that you have in mind.

I just want to add one point. From my point of view, the target of a "vitrine" website is not the same as an App store. The vitrine one's seems to really target developers or people that want to see what have been done locally as you stated in Description.

However I am not sure the target of vitrine website are "normal" users who just want to install an app + plus updates when available. So I think that it will not really fulfill your second point in the description about local consumption.

Thanks

[elhmn]

Maybe we can also list some telegram bots build or used by Cameroonians here ? 🤷‍♂️

[elhmn]

Hey there, I built a first draft of the CM appStore, I renamed camerapps and generalised it, to include telegram groups, and other communities. You can check the code base here https://github.com/osscameroon/camerapps.com

And the application is up and running here https://camerapps.com

[Geekles007]

@elhmn I just opened https://www.camerapps.com and it looks great and simple 👍. About CM App Store, it's exactly what @tericcabrel just explained before.

The design and UX are very important for me. I really want to make an user friendly interface but I didn't found the perfect design system language for that. In fact, Those last days I fell in love with UBER Design System https://ueno.co/work/uber-design and Carbon Design System https://www.carbondesignsystem.com , I think it could be a good choice but if I don't make a final choice, I will make each components by myself as usual 😆. For technologies, I was thinking about REACT, GRAPHQL and NODEJS.

I was not really active too and I'm really sorry for that, I have some issues to fix here. 🙏

[tericcabrel]

@Geekles007, when do you plan to start the project?

[Geekles007]

@tericcabrel, I don't know yet honestly. But it can be possible in August.