SFU Beedie launches student-developed app for iPhone and iPad

VANCOUVER— The Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University has launched the SFU Beedie mobile app for iPhone. The occasion makes the business school one of the few in North America to have released its own app for the popular Apple smart phone as well as the iPad – one that caters to the school’s growing social network of students, alumni, researchers and industry partners.

Uniquely, it was developed in-class by Simon Fraser University undergraduate students from the Beedie School of Business and the Faculty of Applied Science. They are (left to right in photo): Charlene Adomako, Randy Tarampi, Justin Lee, Joshua Horacsek, and Kyle Krystalowich.

The app has its origins in the undergraduate class Business 338: Foundations of Innovation, taught by Beedie School of Business Assistant Professor Jan Kietzmann. The class is a collaboration with students from Computer Science 275, which is taught by Herbert Tsang – and matches business students with their computer science counterparts to simulate real-world iPhone app strategy and development.

Within the class, the concept of an outward-facing, community-driven, social media-friendly business school app was conceived by the aforementioned students, who felt that the mobile app medium could be especially useful in bringing various constituents within the Beedie community closer together.

“SFU Beedie Mobile is a testament to this school’s well-established culture of creativity and innovation,” said Daniel Shapiro, Dean of the Beedie School of Business. “This is an app that will have great value for the extended business school community.”

Users of the app will find dynamic content including school news, research highlights, and event information, as well as real-time interaction from the school’s social media channels — including web links, photos and videos. There are also wayfinding features such as campus maps and transit schedules that are relevant for the school’s student body and other campus visitors.

“The beauty of SFU Beedie Mobile is that it draws from social media to bring the extended Beedie School of Business community closer together – wherever they may be in the world” said Stephane Rousselet, a Master’s student from ESCP Europe in Paris, France, who helped develop the app in its early stages when he was an exchange student at Simon Fraser University.

For an Apple iTunes preview of the app, visit: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/sfu-beedie-school-of-business/id434700597?mt=8

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Contact:
Justin Lee, BBA Candidate
Beedie School of Business
jal24@sfu.ca | 778.988.7278

Derek Moscato, Director of Marketing and Communications
Beedie School of Business
derek_moscato@sfu.ca | 778-782-5038