Given the fast pace of Information Technology, it comes as no surprise that most organizations will need to use mobile devices to increase the productivity of their team members. Multi Platform App Development to the rescue!
These gadgets use mobile applications that can be deployed on multiple mobile platforms.
Development tools with cross-platform capabilities are able to build mobile app versions of desktop software. This is why there is such a huge demand in the market for those cross-platform development tools.
Why Use a Multi Platform App Development Tool?
The cost of developing on one platform is not cheap, and it has only been increasing in price. Plus, you should also be able to market your app fast.
This is where cross-platform development tools have an edge. You will only be using just one codebase to produce apps that work on multiple platforms.
It provides convenience and makes the lives of enterprise developers easier.
Key Challenges In Multi Platform App Development
Cross-platform apps still can’t beat the performance of native apps.
Cross-platform development, although convenient, suffer from some obvious limitations. They are, however, good for some specific types of mobile applications.
For example, using cross-platform for writing games would certainly be difficult, but they would be good to use for calendar apps or writing applications to display content and to-do lists or mail apps.
Another performance challenge for cross-platform apps is its programming practices that can be insecure. If the programming is insecure, it follows that the platforms are also not that secure.
Creators of consumer apps find cross-platform development tools less appealing. They might not be able to tap native nuances efficiently in the specific operating system of modern mobile devices.
There are several platform-specific performance opportunities that they may not be able to utilize to its full extent. Cross-platform tools lock out these benefits.
With so many players in the market, as a developer, you would need as much competitive edge as you can get.
This is why native apps make more sense to the majority of app developers. Most developers will keep on mining a specific platform to find an extra feature that will help give their app an edge over their competitors.
Keep abreast of the latest news concerning Multi Platform App Development and how we are positively impacting the lives of visionaries and gamers around the globe.
The 10 Best Multi Platform App Development Tools
With Xamarin, developers just need one shared C# codebase to build native apps for iOS, Windows and Android.
Xamarin has a cloud service that you can use to test apps developed on its platform. You can test the app on more than 100 devices.
They also offer online classes and their interface development tool through a program in Xamarin University.
Ext JS is the main product of Sencha for its enterprise users.
Developers can convert apps that were created in HTML5 using Ext JS to cross-platform apps with the use of Adobe PhoneGap.
The benefit of using HTML5 in app creation is this method allows Ext JS platform created-apps to run on mobile devices and on browsers.
SAP is one of the older cross-platform development tools, slash, Multi Platform App Development tools. Unfortunately, most developers think that this oldie does not get easier with time but just gets more confusing.
The company, however, took SAP’s mobile relevance to the next level with its SAP Mobile Platform version 3.0. The platform can be used to build cross-platform enterprise mobile apps just using one HTML5 codebase.
As part of SAPs’ strategy, it joined hands with Cordova. This alliance gave their customers a lot of benefits. You can now use a lot of SAP Fiori apps on your mobile devices and desktop, and you can even improve them with Cordova.
For organizations with a large population of different devices needing apps that can integrate with Oracle backends and SAP, Kony is a perfect fit for you.
The services of its platform run through a public cloud or hosted private cloud on-premise solution. Its platform has analytics and testing tools already embedded in it. The services of its cloud host are also adjustable according to your demands.
Kony’s offerings are:
Kony Management – used to administer and deploy apps for mobile devices
Kony Visualizer – has a development environment that can incorporate design capabilities
Kony Studio – has development tools (visual) that developers can use for connecting to the backend APIs and adding JavaScript code (cross-platform).
Just like the Appcelerator, iFactr was also created for fast delivery of mobile apps. iFactr states that with just three days or at least two days of training, developers can start creating apps with iFactr.
Xamarin is the platform used by iFactr in creating apps for Android and iOs and you can also use it with the Adobe PhoneGap.
FeedHenry does not only offer cross-platform app development but also a mobile-as-a-backend service. iOS and Android apps created with the FeedHenry platform can be published either on-site or as cloud-based apps.
If you use Mongo DB and Node.js with FeedHenry’s platform, you can create scalable network apps. FeedHenry is now owned by Red Hat.
Appcelerator, like the word “accelerator” speeds up cross-platform apps’ time-to-market. Its apps use just one JavaScript code. It also supports mobile analytics done in real-time.
The extensible and open environment of the Appcelerator can produce hybrid apps and apps for your Android, Blackberry HTML5 and iOS.
Alpha Anywhere uses HTML5 and JavaSript. You can use Alpha to build cross-platform apps for operating systems of major mobiles, and Macs and PCs. Developers can even produce apps that you can use offline using Alpha’s platform.
Phone Gap and Phone Gap Build are two of the known cross-platform development offered by Adobe.
Phone Gap is Apache Cordova based and is also open source solution. Phone Gap Build, on the other hand, is cloud based.
The concept on how Cordova will function is simple. You just need to write your app once, and you’ll be able to deploy it on all of your devices. You can run it on iOs, Android, Blackberry and a lot more.
Cordova is a set of device APIs that is open source and can allow applications to have access to those specific functions of a native device across different device platforms.
Developers can code and build applications using HTML5, Java Web languages and CSS3 by using cross-platform plug-ins and Cordova’s API.
It offers convenience to developers as they can just use one codebase instead of several native SDKs (software development kits) to create a mobile app that can be used across different platforms.
The most common SDKs are Windows SDK, Xcode (iOS), and Android SDK.
You can also transfer your Enterprises development skills to Cordova, which can simplify the roll out of your mobile apps.
Similar to other apps, developers use JavaScript and HTML5 to create cross-platform apps for iOS and Android in 5app’s platform.
What’s different is, 5app has it enterprise app store service. With this service, the employees can have the IT department of their organization operate the app stores for them.
Native Apps vs. Cross-Platform
Native mobile operating systems don’t need to worry about cross-platform apps. Native platforms will not be made redundant by cross-platform apps.
This is due to the fact that there are certain capabilities and features that can only be reached by going native.
If you are an independent developer who is experimenting with new games and apps, it would be more convenient to use an approach that focuses only on a single platform.
Innovation is always part of the process, so you can expect that the makers of mobile devices will find ways to improve on their products.
There will always be development for the native platforms in order to maximize those devices’ full potential. However, multi platform app development is here to stay, so get with it!
