Reasons To ChangeOver to Cross Platform Mobile App Development With the rising demands of smartphones and tablets ,mobile apps are also becoming ubiquitous. But do you target a single platform for mobile app development or make that extra effort to to build your device twice for Android and iOS , or prefer cross platform development ? So what the proliferation of these different devices actually mean for new developers entering the mobile market ?
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Reasons to changeover to Cross Platform Mobile App Development
Oodles Technologies pioneer in developing Cross Platform Mobile App Development and develop customized apps for iphone and ipad touch specializing in Phonegap and Appcelerator Titanium Technologies.
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Reasons To ChangeOver to Cross Platform Mobile App Development
With the rising demands of smartphones and tablets ,mobile apps are also becoming
ubiquitous. But do you target a single platform for mobile app development or make that
extra effort to to build your device twice for Android and iOS , or prefer cross platform
development ? So what the proliferation of these different devices actually mean for new
developers entering the mobile market ?
You might have heard of something like “Cross Platform Development” in the mobile market but aren’t
really sure about what it is or why to consider it for app development ? then this blog will shed some
light on what it is, its benefits and reasons for considering cross platform development strategies.
But before going onto that lets first understand native and web applications with their intended pros
and cons -
1. Native Apps
Native Apps are the applications that are installed through an application store and are accessed
through icons on device home screen . They are accessed and installed from Application store like
Google Play or Apple’s App store etc. , they are developed for one platform and can access all
device features like your contacts, GPS, camera etc. Native apps are specifically developed for
single platforms like Android and iOS and uses the respective development tools and languages they
support like Java and Eclipse for Android & Xcode and Objective-C with iOS . Native apps can work
offline and can even use device’s notification system. They incorporate either standard operating
system gestures or app defined gestures .
Native App Advantages
● The greatest strength of native apps is their sheer power . Native apps easily make use of the
device’s software and built-in hardware features . Another important asset is that they can be used
offline even when a user in not connected to their network .
Native App Disadvantages
● Developing Native Apps is slightly cumbersome and time consuming as it requires the app to be
developed for two different platforms (iOS & Android ). Moreover it requires developers to get their
app approved from Google and Apple along with revenue sharing and licensing fees .
2. Mobile Web Apps (HTML5 Apps)
Web Apps are really websites, but in look and feel resembles to that of native applications but aren’t
implemented as such . These apps are written in HTML5 and are run in web browser. They are
accessed like any other web page like by navigating to special URL and then installing them on home
screen by bookmarking that page . HTML5 apps use standard web technologies—typically HTML5,
JavaScript and CSS.
These applications become popular when HTML5 came around and it was realized that native like
functionality can now be obtained in the web browser . Now more websites being using HTML5 the
distinction between regular web pages and web apps has narrowed.
While mobile developers can develop sophisticated apps with HTML5 and JavaScript still it suffers from
limitations like secure offline storage , session management , and access to native device functionality
like geolocation, camera, calendar etc. But there are still some native features that remain inaccessible
in the web browser like notifications in background , accelerometer information and other complex
gestures.
Although many native apps do not take advantage of these features also but to access devices
information you need to create at least a hybrid app or native app .
HTML5 Advantages
● Developing this app is quick and saves a lot of time , it allows you to develop the code once and
then deploy it on any platform . While the code may still need to be optimized for different mobile
browsers but that task would be less compared to coding it again. Moreover HTML5 apps allow any
user to use it without the need for downloading it again on their mobile phones . In addition to this
the location of web app can make it easy to integrate with usage from PC.
HTML5 Disadvantages
● HTML5 suffers from detriment that it does not provide its users a central location to purchase apps, it
lacks the monetization power that Apple and Google app store offers . Being providing limited access
to many mobile device features often developers rely on workarounds to get their required
functionalities .
3. Hybrid apps
Hybrid apps are partially native and partially web apps. Just similar to native apps they reside
in an app store and can even utilize the device features . It resembles to web apps in the
sense that they rely on HTML being rendered in browser with the admonition that the browser
is embedded in app.
Companies build hybrid applications as wrappers for existing web page , with this methodology
they grab presence in app store without much effort being paid on developing a different app.
Hybrid apps enables to embed HTML5 apps within thin native container, combining the best
(and worst) elements of both HTML5 and native apps.
Hybrid apps currently gaining much of attention as they allow cross platform development and
significantly reduces cost reuse on different mobile O.S .
What is cross-platform development?
Cross Platform Development runs on “Write once and run everywhere” paradigm .
It is implemented by writing an application using a codebase and technology that allows it to be
distributed and deployed across multiple disparate devices, operating systems and platforms. For
example, a cross-platform application may run on the x86 architecture for Linux O.S , on x86
architecture for Windows, and Mac OS X on PowerPCor x86 based Apple Macintosh systems. Cross-
platform applications can run on all existing platforms or as low as two platforms .
The biggest challenge of cross platform development is the software stack architecture and the hardware
capabilities of the devices running on the two different platforms. HTML5 although makes cross-platform
application development simpler while providing portability to the different platforms. If using Using
PhoneGap, this includes Symbian, Samsung Bada, Apple iOS, Android, BlackBerry 4.6 and higher, HP
WebOS and Windows Phone 7 – Mango platforms.
Adobe AIR then this includes BlackBerry Playbook & upcoming BBX platform, Apple’s iOS devices
(iPhone and iPad), and Windows Metro (the tablet offering of Windows 8).