The strategy for the first version of the WSJ Mobile Reader (mobile web, iPhone, BlackBerry) was to provide content free and unauthenticated to users. The second version of the app needed to align with the Journal’s subscriber model and a decision was made that all users must be authenticated. New features included adding real-time Markets data with minimal performance hit; and the complex scenario of saving and syncing articles in a subscriber account.
Solution: Such a significant change to the app usage model required clear communication to: the designers and developers to create the product; to Apple Inc. for iPhone acceptance; to existing and new users. In addition to wireframes and business rules, I created an often-referred-to logic flow and a press briefings presentation deck for upper management and Apple.
Result: Acceptance by Apple was smooth; development was completed on a very tight deadline with rigorous QA resulting in few defects.
