There are many platforms available for developing mobile applications. It’s a tedious job for the developer to code an application/idea on all platforms. Each platform has its own native APIs which are used for developing applications.
Some of the Mobile Platforms are Symbian, Android, IOS, Blackberry, Web OS, Windows Phone, Bada, Meego, etc.
Developing an application in each of this platform is very hectic for the programmer. A solution to this is cross platform mobile development.
What is cross platform mobile development?
A cross mobile platform is a platform that helps developer to develop the applications in one common language that would be supported by all the popular platform.
One piece of code compiled on different platforms.
Features
- Free and open source.
- Create apps with jquery mobile or HTML, CSS & JS.
- Reduce development and long-term maintenance cost.
- Reduce technical barriers and the number of required skills for the development team.
- Single code for building mobile apps for iPhone, Android and other platform.
- Supports all major mobile platforms.
Strategy
- Utilize open source technologies.
- Write code once and cross-compile on multiple mobile platforms.
- Reduce the number of skills for development team.
Design
- Use single codebase for different versions of applications on different platforms.
- Provide same functionality to all platforms.
- Cross browser compatibility.
Development
- Create native mobile apps for multiple devices & operating systems.
- Access to native APIs using Phonegap.
- Build apps using HTML, JavaScript and CSS.
Promotion
- Publish apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry etc.
- Service customers in a variety of marketplaces.
- An open source Platform which makes use of web technologies like jquery mobile,html5,css, and JavaScript to create native apps.
- A Native library for every platform.
- A javaScriptibrary/wrapper.
- Currently known as Apache Cordova.
PHONEGAP History
- Phonegap was first developed at an iPhoneDevCamp event in San Francisco. IOS was running out of iPhone Developer. iPhone development is based on Objective-C language. There were lot more web developers present than the Objective-C ones. So the iPhone think-tank felt the need to develop a framework that allowed web developers to leverage all their knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript that could also interact with the important native parts of an iPhone. This would have increased the number of iPhone developers.
Platform Support
- IOS
- Android
- Symbian
- Blackberry
- Windows Phone
- Web OS
- Bada
Phonegap supports following API’s of mobile phone
