Kii SDK

Kii is not an SDK itself, instead it is a cloud hosting company that lets developers implement cloud services in their apps without having to set up a cloud server. This is a mobile backend as a service (MbaaS) and the company was founded in 2010 when two companies merged, Synclore Japan and Servo. Although it is not an SDK and thus, you can’t write your projects there, their service is very useful for games. Here is a full feature list of what you can do with Kii.

FEATURES

First off, you can build apps for the connected devices. Every connected device to the Kii cloud can enjoy these apps and one of the major advantages of this is the fact that they support all major OS, mostly for mobile phones. There are tools built in the cloud so you can develop your apps there. While that is true, most developers will prefer to use their usual tools to do so, as it is more convenient and anybody who is in the development world already has his own tools and programs to use. Even more so if they are thinking of purchasing an advanced service like Kii.

The first cool service provided by Kii is their user management. All users in the cloud can authenticate themselves via the usual login and pass but they also can do it using their social networks like Facebook or G+. SMS is also an option to authenticate and you can use any combination of them to make a safer connection if necessary.

Of course, since all devices are in the cloud, data management gets much easier. All files can be stored, edited, deleted and even restored in a more convenient way. By setting different permissions, you can be sure nobody is going to gain access to the wrong file. The browser included in the Kii network is very good for that purpose. Editing on the fly is also a possibility in Kii and many users can be connected to the same file and edit it at the same time.

Push notifications are a must when developing apps for mobile phones, and Kii manages them really well and with no hassles for the developer. By using their interface, you can easily send push notifications to the whole app, to a selected group of users or just one user. There is also the possibility to schedule them.

Geolocation is another of their services. Yes, you can create an app with geolocation yourself but it is not that easy. With Kii though, it is just a matter of a few clicks to enable geolocation to as many devices as you want. This is mostly useful if you want to create apps to share data with nearby devices or ads.

But what makes Kii a great MbaaS is their analytics system. When you develop a game it is very important to keep track of what is going on in there. What are the users doing? Are they doing the right things? Are they having fun? How much are they spending? How many hours do they play on average? These are common questions when you want to monetize your app, and with Kii, it is much easier to answer them without having to build a huge backend.

All the analytics in the Kii cloud can be done on the fly, which means you don’t need to re-release your app if you want to measure something different. Also, instead of boring numbers, in the Kii cloud you can have all your data at a glance by the means of charts, cake charts and graphs. This data is very valuable for developers once the app up and running, and it is worth a lot of money as well.

A/B testing lets you to get feedback from your users so you can better understand their needs and can act accordingly. This lets you create forms or send messages to your users and ask them for feedback and then manage all that data at a glance. This is another priceless service offered by Kii.

Another huge advantage of Kii is their optimization for the Chinese market. China is the country with the most smartphones in the world and they love to play. Kii hosts in China so there should be no latency challenges when connecting Chinese users to the cloud. Another issue of the Chinese market is the app stores. There are more than 200 of them dedicated to the Chinese market with each having different proprietary SDKs, rules, and ways in which they approve apps. Kii handles all that for you. They also manage integration with popular Chinese social networks such as Sina Weibo, Tencent, Renren and Kaixin.

However, when it comes to the price it is impossible to know because they tailor the price to each app depending on the traffic, expectations and many other factors. They have a free service for some time if you want to try it before purchasing.

PROS and CONS

Pros

• Great MbaaS
• Good Chinese integration
• Outstanding analytics

Cons

• Can’t develop natively
• Prices are not clear

Conclusion

If you already have an app and you want to host it in the cloud and the Chinese market is something that interests you, you should definitely take a look at Kii. They have one of the best integrations ever for the Chinese market and will make your life much easier when tracking your users. All the services they provide are flawless and their connectivity in China is great so Chinese users won’t have any latency problems when connecting to a US server. Definitely this is a cloud hosting service you should consider once you have already made an app. However, it is not useful to make the app itself so it can’t be considered a SDK, although it really helps.