#DevTO: the Pursuit of Appyness - A Panel on 10+ years of iOS

It's July 10th 2008 and something called the App Store had just launched. The next day, the iPhone 3G was launched, changing the mobile computing scene forever. In this panel, we invite iOS veterans to discuss the events that led up to the success of the App Store, the evolution of iOS and the App Store over the past 10+ years and what the future may hold in store for this "giant screen" as Steve Jobs once described it.

Panelists
*Tom George
Tom has spent a career in software product development ranging from development positions at IBM, Amdahl, & Microsoft to his app development work for numerous startups and clients like CISCO, Ganz, and the Yellow Pages Group. He is the owner of BitBlitz Apps and the creator of the Electratype App (http://bit.ly/2R7JzAv). He is currently working on an aviation app for tracking flights with augmented reality.

*Jean-Luc David
Jean-Luc David is a Senior iOS Developer based in Toronto, Canada. He got his start in 2007 by rushing out to pick up a Mac Mini and iPod Touch after Steve Job's iconic iPhone reveal keynote. He has worked with a number of companies including Microsoft, HBO, Disney, Netflix, Yellow Pages, Surkus, Telus, and many others. His side hustle is DailyKeto, an AI-driven dieting app coming soon to the Apple AppStore.

*Jason Matthews
Jason grew in the age of dial-up internet, Napster and Mapquest. He started his career in hardware, then he moved on to network system, followed by a long stint in back-end development and currently works as a front-end architect. He has worked in both agency and product companies building large scale platforms and apps for notable clients, such as Walmart, LCBO, Hyundai, and HomeDepot to name a few.

Jason an early adopter of the React Native framework. He's released several apps in the AppStore that were built with React Native.

*Mark Pavlidis
Mark is the VP of Software at Marketcircle, makers of Daylite, the leading small business CRM for iOS and macOS. Previously, he was the CTO, Managing Director, and Co-Founder of Flixel Photos Inc. He has developed over 30 apps for the App Store including one of the first e-book readers for iPhone, a personal safety app, and some of the earliest paid apps on the Canadian App Store. Before becoming a cliché and dropping out of a Ph.D. in Software Engineering, his research work was focused on symbolic timing analysis of safety-critical systems. Mark holds a B.Eng.Mgt. and M.A.Sc. in Software Engineering from McMaster University.