What Makes PhoneGap App Development so Attractive?

PhoneGap is a free open source cross-platform mobile app development framework. Originally created by Nitobi Software, PhoneGap was acquired by Adobe in October 2011. PhoneGap enables app developers to create mobile apps for seven popular mobile platforms – iOS, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Palm WebOS, Symbian, and Bada – using HTML, JavaScript, and CSS.

Although HTML, JavaScript, and CSS are used to create a PhoneGap app, the final product is a binary app archive (containing IPA file for iOS, APK for Android, XAP for Windows Phone, etc.) which could then be distributed through their “native” app store ecosystems – just like “native” apps. PhoneGap offers PhoneGap-Build as a cloud service which enables developers to build and compile mobile apps fast without the need for additional SDKs, compilers, or hardware.

Since PhoneGap app development are created using open web standards (and not device-specific languages such as Objective-C), it enables you to not get locked into a proprietary vendor platform. The PhoneGap development framework enables web developers using a single code base of HTML, JavaScript, and CSS to natively target seven popular smartphone platforms. PhoneGap does this by enabling a foreign function interface to an embedded WebView / Webkit on the smartphone.

PhoneGap apps are more like hybrid apps. PhoneGap apps are not truly native: They use web views (not native UI frameworks) for layout rendering. PhoneGap apps are not purely web-based either: Unlike just web apps, they have access to native device APIs and are packaged as apps for distribution. PhoneGap is not the only cross-platform mobile development framework for creating hybrid apps like above, but it is arguably one of the most popular and most used cross-platform mobile dev frameworks in the world today.

PhoneGap APIs enable developers to access native operating system features using JavaScript. With PhoneGap, you can get access to powerful native features such as accelerometer, camera, compass, contacts, file, geolocation, media, network, notifications (alert, sound, vibration), and storage. developers can also take advantage of PhoneGap’s JavaScript-to-native communication mechanism to create custom “native plugins” for use within PhoneGap apps. The release of PhoneGap 2.0 brings a number of new features like support for Windows Phone 8, an overhauled JavaScript library stack, Cordova WebView, etc.

The cross-platform mobile dev landscape has a number of players: PhoneGap, Titanium, RhoMobile, Sencha, etc. Though all of these share the same goal (cross-platform mobile development), there are differences in the manner in which each goes about achieving this goal. Depending on the context, you may have a narrower consideration set of cross-platform mobile dev frameworks and one of these may be the clear winner.

Companies like Mindfire Solutions provide expert cross-platform app development services using PhoneGap, Titanium, RhoMobile, etc. The dedicated PhoneGap, Titanium, and RhoMobile teams at Mindfire have a strong track record of developing powerful and engaging cross-platform mobile apps for global clients across diverse industry domains. If you want to hire PhoneGap Developers do cool PhoneGap / Titanium / RhoMobile apps and need some development help, get in touch with Mindfire today – call +1 248-686-1424 or email sales[@]mindfiresolutions[.]com – to leverage the strong track record and solid experience of Mindfire’s PhoneGap app development / Titanium / RhoMobile experts to bring your cool mobile app ideas to life.

Why You Can No Longer Ignore Cross-Platform Products?

Life would have been a lot simpler -- devoid of interoperability issues -- if we had only one operating system. Unfortunately, it is not so and computer platforms abound, such as Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. The proliferation of variety of options presents a challenge to application providers who have their target audience spread across multiple platforms. By developing software for one computer platform, you lose out on large sections of this target audience present across others. Would Mozilla Firefox, Google Earth, Skype, FileZilla, OpenOffice, or Gimp be as popular worldwide as they are now if they were running on only one operating system?

Cross-platform (X-platform) applications can run on more than one operating system or computer architecture. The proliferation of platforms plus the Web have fundamentally altered customer expectations. More and more users are beginning to expect their software to run on most, if not all, major computer platforms. In the light of this new reality, cross platform software development is becoming increasingly important.

Different approaches exist for X-platform software development. The most straightforward approach would be to develop different software applications (designed to function similarly) for different computer platforms. For example, you may consider creating three different platform-specific versions of your product for Mac OS X, Windows & Linux. However, not only does this approach increase development time & cost, it can present enormous challenges while fixing bugs, maintaining and upgrading the different programs down the line.

To make the process of cross platform application development faster and better, a number of tools are available in the market today, such as Real Studio, Qt, Mozilla application framework, etc. Most of these tools enable one to create cross-platform applications (able to run on multiple desktop operating systems) without having to rewrite the source code. This is a great way to leverage your one-time software development investment across multiple computer platforms and target audience subsets.

Real Studio Application Development

Real Studio, formerly known as Realbasic, is one of the most popular X-platform application development tools. Developed plus marketed by Real Software, RS offers a sophisticated Rapid Application Development environment. Using RS, you can create powerful native applications for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and the Web – starting from utilities to enterprise-class solutions. You can use RS Desktop Edition to directly compile your Realbasic code to the machine language for platforms like Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows & Linux. Similarly, you can use RS Web Edition to rapidly create rich Web 3.0 applications using a visual interface builder and a single language for application logic.

Mindfire Solutions

Expert service providers like Mindfire Solutions, backed by years of experience in commercial Real Studio application development, can help you leverage Real Studio's power in helping you do, for example, the following:

• Develop cross platform software for Mac, Windows & Linux.
• Build powerful, secure Web 3.0 applications.
• Migrate Visual Basic to powerful X-platform apps.
• Create powerful database solutions with Real SQL Database.
• Create versatile RS plugins.
• Support Real Studio applications.
• Independently validate RS applications.

To know more about our expertise in Real Studio application development or hire cross platform developers fulfill your requirements, please contact us at sales[at]mindfiresolutions[dot]com or call 1-248-686-1424. We will be glad to help you.