mobile app

Mobile app

A mobile app is a software application developed specifically for use on small, wireless computing devices, such as smartphones and tablets, rather than desktop or laptop computers.

Mobile apps are designed and can be used for any of the special capabilities they have. A gaming app, for example, could also take advantage of the iPhone's Accelerator.

Mobile apps are sometimes categorized according to whether they are web-based or native apps, which are created specifically for a given platform. A third category, hybrid apps, combines elements of both native and web apps. As the technologies mature, it's expected that mobile application development efforts will focus on the creation of browser-based, device-agnostic Web applications.

How to select cross-platform app development tools

Companies are no longer running on single platforms such as Windows. Today, your company supports phones, tablets and emerging technologies such as smartwatches and the promise of the Internet of Things. Many enterprises are now supporting multiple platforms with the leaders, Windows, Web, Apple's iOS and Google's Android. The goal of this article is to showcase the cross-platform app development tools that are available now.

The state of cross-platform app development in the enterprise

In the '90s, Java was released with the tag line, "Build Once, Run Anywhere." The concept was simple: Today, your company needs to support tools that will build software for an ever-increasing number of platforms and device types.

A large number of companies have developed tools that extend the basis of Java's war with tools you can use for cross-platform app development. These cross-platform tools can be divided into the following categories:

Codeless tools - tools that a power user or business analyst can use quickly

Mobile Web - tools powered by HTML and JavaScript that allow the use of low-cost web developers

Developer cross-platform - advanced tools that use languages ​​such as C # to create cross-platform enterprise solutions

Here, we will focus on the third branch of that tree, covering cross-platform app development products.

The benefits of cross-platform app development

While you may need to exert caution when leveraging cross-platform environments, there are clear reasons to use them:

One development team

It is easy to learn how to use one development tool than many - and it keeps your costs down

Most cross-platform tools are maturing quickly - many of the features you need in enterprise mobile apps (barcode scanning, image recognition, forms, data connection and text-voice) have long been incorporated into the cross-platform tools

Having the ability to create apps that can deliver very quickly to many platforms is a great win for cross-platform app development tools. This is very important for small to midsize businesses (SMBs) that do not have budgets to support mobile developers for Android, iOS and Windows. Indeed, too large companies

Here is a list of surefire tools you can use for cross-platform app development:

PhoneGap / PhoneGap Build - a free product from Adobe largely based on Apache Cordova

IBM Worklight - a modified version of Apache Cordova with additional features

Xamarin - used to build cross-platform apps with C #

Embarcadero

Kony

Oracle

SAP

Salesforce

Sencha

Telerik

But how do you know? You need to understand what is the best application development software for your company

Which tools

There are many different types of companies and current mobile development tools. The following are guidelines you can use when selecting tools for your company:

Small companies (fewer than 50 people): When you have a small team working to deliver value to your clients, you will want to focus on mobile devices. To this end, you will want to leverage apps already available in public app stores or commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) products. The goal is to have tools you can deploy immediately and provide value to your teams.

Midsized companies (up to 500 people): Medium-size companies will face the challenge of having apps for both iOS and Android due to a mix of staff and consumer needs. Cross-platform technologies such as Xamarin or Appcelerator The use of C # in Xamarin will make it easy for .NET-based teams to migrate to mobile.

Large Fortune 1,000 companies: The demands for large companies are obviously more complex than SMBs because large, back office systems and the need for sophisticated security demand more complex apps. Due to this, it is highly recommended to have a multi-level approach to app development. For small teams, select a cross-platform tool; Mission critical apps should be developed with native tools; and consumer-facing public apps should also be developed as native app development tools.

When security is a high concern in your apps, you will want to build native apps and potentially combine the deployment of apps with a mobile application management product.

When speed of delivery is the highest concern, you will want to leverage a combination of COTS products with template apps your team has written that can be Repurposed. Embroiderer, Kony, Sales force, Sencha, Telerik, IBM Work light, Adobe Phone Gap, Xamarin and SAP all have tools that fall in this category.

When the price is the highest concern Apache Cordoba with HTML5 development

When support for three or more mobile platforms is critical, you will want to focus on cross-platform app development tools. The leader in this category is Apache Cordova A few of the products listed above are built on Apache Cordova.

The tools for mobile development are maturing rapidly. It is worth reviewing the new tools every six to 12 months

Leveraging Apache Cordoba

Apache Cordoba, an open source cross-platform app development product, was used in tools from IBM, Adobe and SAP. Cordoba is popular largely because developers can build apps with HTML 5 technologies and circumvent the need to learn different native technologies such as Swift and Java for i OS and Android development. The build code for Apache Cordoba is run in Visual Studio, X Code or Eclipse, depending on whether you are building an app for Windows Phone, i OS or Android. Each platform supports extensions or plug-ins that gives developers a way to extend functionality in HTML to support native features such as access to Camera, local storage and so on. Indeed, developers can write custom plug-ins to access new features such as Touch ID in i OS.

In many ways, Phone Gap is the easiest cross-platform tool. Leveraging just HTML technologies (SVG, JavaScript, XML, HTML Video, etc.) is a phone gap app. With Adobe's testing tools, Phone Gap Desktop and Phone Gap App, you can have a working app running in a couple of hours, including set up time.

Many organizations have a web development team IBM's Work light, Apache Cordoba and Phone Gap are great for these types of teams. You can leverage your investment in HTML technologies directly with these tools.

The goal is to mobilize in your organization as