Because all those apps need to talk back to somewhere
Realm provides a database tailored for mobile applications. The most popular third-party database globally, Realm powers apps in use by over a billion users. Realm has focused on the mobile side of things and offers caching and synchronization services that are critical for the mobile use case.
The company is broadening its offering today with the announcement of the Realm Mobile Platform, an amalgam of the existing database and a new product, Realm Object Server.
Object Server deals with delivering live data synchronization between users. In practice, it uses live objects across both database and server, which update automatically in response to changes on either side. These objects are then integrated between the two ends of the chain, with data encrypted throughout the process. The use cases for this two-way synchronicity are obvious: Messaging and chat, live collaboration, two-way data syncing and offline functionality are all enabled by this.
“Limitations to mobile database and synchronization technology have long been the biggest source of frustration for developers striving to deliver compelling and collaborative app experiences,” said Alexander Stigsen, co-founder and CEO of Realm. “The Realm Mobile Platform shatters the barriers that developers have faced by combining the ubiquity and capabilities of the Realm Mobile Database with a breakthrough in object server technology. We are helping app developers into a new era of mobile development that will make the large majority of today’s mobile apps look like static web pages.
My POV
Though more of an evolution of an existing offering than something revolutionary, Realm Platform solves a very real problem that developers face: data quality issues around mobile applications.
Of course, this does raise a more fundamental question of whether developers of mobile applications should really be getting their hands dirty down at the database level. Or should a mobile development platform encapsulate all of this functionality as a core part of the offering?
Notwithstanding these bigger questions, this looks to be a strong offering that solves some of the core issues around mobile application data and it will be welcomed by developers.
