Mobile apps have revolutionised the way we use our smartphones and tablets, with apps available for almost every scenario from sending simple messages to streaming music or video.
App stores offers businesses a new way to access millions of potential customers, but with a number of mobile platforms around such as Android, iOS, Windows, and BlackBerry, it can be difficult to know which one to target, or how to have apps across all platforms for a minimum budget – this is where cross-platform mobile application development platforms come in.
Cross-Platform Mobile Development Platforms
Rhomobile
Rhomobile is a technology that provides an open-source framework, based on Ruby, known as Rhodes. This allows the developer to create native apps, which can span over a huge range of Operating systems. This system includes Android, Windows Mobile, Symbian, iPhone and RIM, which pretty much covers it all.
PhoneGap
PhoneGap is basically an FOSS environment that allows developers to create apps for Android, Palm, Symbian, and BlackBerry, iPhone, iTouch and iPad devices. It won great acclaim at the Web 2.0 Expo San Francisco’s 2009 Launch Pad event. This platform uses standard web development languages such as HTML and JavaScript.
Appcelerator
Appcelerator is one of the most popular mobile application development environments. It gave the titanium development platform which has a huge fan following. It allows the developer to create native apps which can be moulded to the tablet and desktop apps via web programming languages such as HTML, PHP, JavaScript, Ruby and Python. Allegedly the Appcelerator backs over a thousand native apps every month.
MoSync
MoSync, like PhoneGap, is a FOSS multi-platform app development SDK tool. Its foundations are laid on standard web programming. Integrated compilers, libraries, runtimes, device profiles and other useful tools are all offered by MoSync. It also offers support for: JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, Eclipse-based IDE for C/C++ programming
WidgetPad
WidgetPad is a concerted, open-source setting. It was initiated to aid in the process of development of Smartphone apps. This program uses the most predominantly used standard web technologies such as JavaScript, HTML5, CSS3, and offers: source code editing, collaboration, debugging, project management, versioning, and distribution.