I am working on iPhone app development currently (primarily native app using Obj-C and some web app using jQTouch). My question is regarding the future of this space;
In say 3 years time, what do you think would be preferred (native or web app) ?
What are the strengths going to be for native app (I know for certain types like Games, people prefer native than browser-based, but will that remain that way forever)
Some people say HTML5 will replace native app development, as it will be "code once, run anywhere" kind of thing (like common for iPhone, Android, BB phones). So do you think HTML5 can completely eliminate native app development.
I know the mobile space is constantly changing with new technologies coming up regularly and hence one cannot say with certainty what the situation will be 3 years forward. But I think there are projections being made by many agencies. So are there any reputed ones which can give a general idea or some sense of what might happen in future.
My main aim is what exactly should be my focus (like what technology/platform/native-web apps), if I want to look at the mobile space for the next 5-10 years.
Please provide as many responses as possible.
My 2c.
The popularity of web based apps will continue to grow. Whether it will pass native apps I don't know. For them to be on par in terms of numbers in 3 years doesn't seem unrealistic.
Native apps have the following benefits:
Better performance (potentially)
Fewer restrictions on accessing device resources
Greater control of execution of application
HTML5 won't completely eliminate the need for native apps (see point 2 above). Even Google who are creating an entirely web based OS (ChromeOS) don't seem to be looking to get rid of Java/Dalvik for Android based dev.
"code once, run anywhere" is very unlikley for anything but the simplest of apps/functionality.
"Code once, compile for each supported platform then test everywhere" is much more realistic.
I'd recommend focusing your education on what makes a great mobile regardless of platform and looking at web based development.
1: Native. It will always be preferred, as it is the most convenient type of app. Personally, I only have one web-app on my phone.
2: The iOS-framework. It is really the largest upside of the native apps. And the fact that they are easily downloadable through the App Store.
Related
I am working on an app for Android, but would like to have it ported in the future to iPhone and (if it seems to gain significant market share in the future) WP7/8.
I know nothing about any mobile platform other than Android. Should I be using C++ (NDK), Java, or something else to get as much portability as possible? I assume I will have to rewrite (or have someone rewrite) at lest part of it, but I would like to make as much of the codebase as possible portable.
Edit: It is a simple app that "scans" a barcode (camera) or has the number typed in, sends some information to a server, gets back some more info (probably in XML, but could be whatever works best) and displays it in a few simple screens.
Edit 2: The 4 parts I have, and would like to ideally make them portable are:
Scan a barcode (probably the hardest to make portable)
Allow entering a barcode number manually
Send and receive some custom data
Display a few screens (This can be in HTML, if I have an option to make it look "native", not like the browser window displaying a webpage it is)
For a non-trivial app that isn't a game, there are currently no mature solutions to this problem.
Tools like Titanium Mobile and PhoneGap are meant to help you do exactly what you want, but impose limitations on what your app can do and are so far at the cutting edge of development that they often introduce bugs of their own that you won't be able to fix. Additionally, you're at their developer's mercy when it comes to support for alternative platforms like WP7 or Blackberry. In some cases, these might be worth the risk, or you may get lucky, but you need to be wary before rushing to use them.
Often, the best technique is still just to develop independent codesbases. You can model them after each other in architectural terms, and if you do so it isn't typically that hard to translate between different platforms.
Another technique to aid in portability for many apps is to use embedded web browsers where it makes sense. This allows you design some of your views in HTML/CSS/Javascript rather than with native UI tools, and then just load them into the aforementioned embedded web browsers on each platform.
Depends on how many platforms you are aiming for.
I have some experience doing iPhone + Android. Honestly, I wouldn't spend too much time trying to learn a portability tool on top. I have done couple of apps (simple communication stuff + a light weight game) and my experience is so far - assumed you are familiar with both - it is far faster + easier to just write your app and then port it.
Besides the normal coding work, the most difficult tasks are to develop the app structure including the main classes and data structures - this you can copy basically 1 to 1 in terms of structure of course - not code.
Also since you will keep getting updates on different platforms like iOS (Android + Eclipse are a little slower it seems to come up with updates/upgrades), which make life easier all the time, you would most probably have a big disadvantage when relying on someone elses portability development toolkit.
So far - certainly not to be taken as a general rule - while development on iPhone took 100%, porting it on Android took at most 30-40%
This question is way too broad, it depends on what kind of app you're doing.
Generally speaking, if you're just as good off doing a web app, do that. It'll work across different platforms.
MonoTouch / MonoDroid by Xamarin (previously owned by Novell) allow you to write C# (the language used by WP7) for iOS/Android, respectively. It is not free, however.
I don't believe the frameworks go so far as to include cross-platform UI, but I'd say that's probably a good thing. At least your application logic can remain the same across platforms.
I've not used the framework myself, so I cannot vouch for it.
We do use MonoTouch/MonoDroid and it helps us to simultaneously support WM/WP7/Android/iOS. The common denominator of all these platforms (after employing Xamarin products) is .Net.
The policy of our company is to maintain toolkits for all platforms that provide similar UI. Then the apps can be written in a nearly platform-agnostic way. This isn't, however, a general statement as the independency refers to the specific types of applications.
I don't advise using our toolkits for your case as it looks like an overkill. However, investing into C#/.Net might not be a bad idea.
U should definitely go with the easiest route: Java.
You will still have to rework a lot while porting, but if you were using NDK, the overhead for Android itself might be similar.
(In an average app. As you havent provided too much information about the project, the answer couldnt be more specific. If you are developing a performance-critical app, like a 3D game, you should consider NDK for the high porfile program parts).
Edit: for this scanning solution, I would go with Java on android and wont bother with portability. For a project with such a clean application logic it wont worth the effort to make it portable (except if the aim of the project is to experiment with application portability, but as far as I got it, it isnt).
I would like to build an iphone/ipad app that has social networking capabilities and the ability to sell magazines and specific articles. I would also like this app to be able to be as flexible as possible for future features.
Should I insist the developer use objective C or could he accomplish the same thing with HTML5 etc..
If you're the client, and have specific technical requirements, you should document them from a technical POV. If not, well that's why you're hiring a developer--for their expertise.
There's pros and cons to each and we'd need to have a lot more project details to be of any specific help for you.
Do note that selling items via an app has its own set of red tape political issues with Apple. You may want to tackle that aspect of the project first. If you don't want to route any payments through Apple so they can take their cut, then you might want to rethink the app model and consider a mobile web site avenue instead.
UPDATE:
In general, here's some high-level comparisons:
Native Apps:
Pros
can access native device functionality directly
can leverage the native UI more directly
can be much more performant in situations like heavy game animation, 3-d, image/video editing, ec.
may be smaller file sizes
Cons
have to be written per-device
different devices use different native IDEs and Languages
HTML5/Phonegap apps
can be written with cross-platform Web standards
can still leverage native device features to an extent
are easier to port from device to device (though still takes effort)
Cons
you won't be creating graphic-heavy game-type apps with it now
may be a bit slower than a native app
Pure HTML5 local web app
This is different than something like a phonegap solution. PhoneGap takes HTML5 and compiles it into native code. That means you can send it through the app store. There's another option, however, where you put the HTML5 app on your web server, and then a user requests to keep it locally on their device. The advantage is that this allows you to bypass the app store completely (though in most situations, people prefer to go through the app store)
I would say, "no", you shouldn't insist the developer use Objective-C. At least not unless other requirements not mentioned dictate the need for a native app. As DA mentioned, there are App Store policies that would need to be complied with for native apps that can be avoided by creating a web app. Also, if you choose, it would be easier to produce a web app that could be used across other platforms rather than being restricted to the iPad.
I am working in iPhone SDK.I have to convert from it to Crossplatform which may be either phonegap or titanium.As a iPhone Native application developer, I have some questions based on cross paltform.please consider the questions for other platforms android,etc also.I have already seen the stackoverflow Link.
1)Is it possible to get equal functionalities of all APIs which are in iPhone SDK through HTML5 and javascript?
2)If Apple releases New Version of iPhone SDK,will New APIs be included ASAP in Crossplatform?
3)If The App crashes in some situation, can I fix immediately through Device Debugging as we do in native Language?
4)The applications developed by Cross platform will be approved by Apple legaly?For example If i want to do live streaming in iphone , The restrictions have mentioned in Apple website.has it been followed by crossplatform?
5)will Application developed by cross platform take more memory?I mention the size of device build for appstore?If we develop the same through objective C,will size be reduced?
***My Conclusion is When we want to develop simple Applications for Multiple devices,crossplatform is suitable.Am I right?***I hope doing through native language(iphonensdk, Android) will avoid lot of Unnecessary things.
No.
If the API can be made available, it depends on how fast the creators of the framework implement it.
In principle, yes, as those frameworks employ a limited amount of OS capabilities to run web-technology (in most cases). This "wrapper" behaves as any native app does. For the content however the rules of the frameworks development language apply. It may be harder compared to native development to track down errors, since they must "pass the shell". Html errors for example may produce the same error for their enclosing webview again and again, despite being different in origin.
Propably.
That's hard to tell. It may depend on the framework. I wouldn't worry about the code as other ressources like imagery are usually the heavier load. But it may be very well the case that those frameworks bring along imagery necessary for their UI elements, since they do not rely on OS elements entirely. Compared to a native app which comes with no extra ressources at all, a crossplatform app with the same functionality might take more memory.
As to your conclusion: You're right. However I'd still encourage anyone to develop native applications whenever possible. Crossplatform frameworks tend to be slower at runtime and, in some cases, produce very ugly apps. I know several examples of apps which have been created with a variety of crossplatforms and I don't like any of them. They just don't feel right. Partly that's due to their UI elements which don't look and feel as you'd expect it on the platform you're on.
The principle behind crossplatform frameworks may appear to be logical, tempting and in some cases, straight economics mandate their use. But, for the time being, I find the results far from being satisfactory and for that reason would never touch a crossplatform framework.
In my experience (with a closed, private, expensive x-platform thing purchased by the employer), it was utterly frustrating, and incredibly difficult. Therefore, it is my preference to maintain multiple native apps.
The UI considerations that can be made/handled by the native app, as well as the functionality and speed gained by doing it natively, IMHO, far outweigh the benefit of having to write it 2 or 3 times.
In an ideal world, you would have a specialist for each platform that can lead the team on the "deep" things, and then everyone can generalize for all of the platforms, increasing their depth through the course of the project.
It is generally said/accepted that a native app would always have a better/smooth performance compared to a web app..
Is this statement true across all the platforms (iPhone/Android/BB,etc) ? Does this not apply correctly for an iPhone i.e. to say that for iPhone web app, it utlizies some kind of GPU acceleration or something (though not very sure how that works) and hence the performance gap is not much ?
Could you please elaborate on the same. Essentially I wanted to understand if I have a high performance app (which would include lots of animation/high memory usage,etc), is it better to have that as a native app OR if the target audience is only iPhone, even a web app would perform good..Having said that, will Android also reduce the performance gap between native and web in the near future?
Also any examples of really high performance web sites which I can try viewing on iPhone/Android to compare the differences?
You're asking a big question there :)
Web apps are all the hype because you don't need to learn Android or obj c so people with skills like web design and scripting can make apps fairly easily. The problem with web apps I find is that you have to be very conscious of how everything works as everything has to render every time.
I've found some web apps crash when you do too much too quickly, even with HTML 5 there's some bugs. On iPhone and Android devices if your app was say a shopping app you could pre render results for a query and only show them when required.
Another problem with web apps is connectivity. I know some people say the internet is everywhere but what if you;re abroad and your carrier charges roaming for bandwidth? I know the ones in Ireland used to charge 10e a meg to uses the internet. Fair enough if the app whether native or web required a connection both will suffer
As for the cpu and gpu performanance that will mostly rely on the model you're using. The iPhone models speak for themselves but there's sooooo many Android phones with different processors it's hard to benchmark. Also take into account internet connectivity..... a lot of factors
With both platforms there are endless pros and cons. I find web apps are quick and easy but can fall short of the nice functionality in Android and iOS APIs. On the other hand the Android and iOS APIs can be head wrecking and cause weeks of headaches
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There's a lot of mobile platforms out there at the moment; iPhone, Android, WebOS, Symbian. If creating a startup for mobile development (i.e. as a commercial endeavour, not a hobby), which mobile platform is worth focusing on?
First, ignore technology to start and instead look at the business model for each platform. Ask if the platform itself has a reliable means of producing revenue long term. If so, then ask if the platform presents a business model that allows a developer to make money. If your not sure about such stuff ask someone with business experience.Beyond an initial flurry of interest, nifty tech can't sustain a platform if the economic underpinnings are not there. Even if a platform prospers, it doesn't mean that small developers will.
As near as I can tell, Android isn't actually a platform but more like a loose standard. Each phone vendor can customize it to a high degree so there doesn't seem to be a means by which you can write a single app and know it will run on all Android phones. That will cause major market fragmentation so even if Android takes off big time that doesn't mean that every developer, especially small developers, will be able to sell to the entire installed base.
Long term, open platforms (like contemporary PCs) present major problems for small developers. There is no intellectual property protection so developers who don't have large institutional customers they can sue can't prevent piracy. Security will become a major issues as black hats target people's phones. There will be a huge number of crappy or actually fraudulent apps cranked out that make end users leery of buying software from a vendor they don't recognize. This means small developers will have a hard time breaking into the market.
One of my professors in college told me something that has proven true in my 20+ years in the computer industry: The major strength of every design is also its critical weakness and vice versa. The very things that make open platforms attractive to developers and customers are also the same things that will cause them major problems. The very things that turn developers off about closed platforms are the things that provide the greatest benefit to developers long term. Having a closed platform's vendor vet every app slows down acceptance and limits choice but improves overall quality, security and consumer trust. And so on...
Career wise, there is a difference in paths between running your own business and learning an API so that others will hire you. In the former, you should develop for the platform that has the best business model and the one you would most like to use as a consumer. For the latter, you should develop for the platform with the most buzz. Even if it flops, no one will find it odd that experience is on your resume. Just rough rules of thumb.
I've written and launched two mobile apps on the iphone over the last year and both have had success in economic terms. One app is free and tied to a web service and it has a significant impact on the popularity and number of users for the web service. The second app is a paid app - and I can tell you that it is producing some actual revenue, enough that if I was a solo developer it'd be paying my bills.
That said I think that if you're launching a company for mobile products you don't want to put all your eggs in one basket. So either support multiple platforms or aim to have multiple products on your main platform.
I think there is big potential in Android but at the moment it is totally unproven as a platform where you can actually make money (please point out some info on this if you have any I am really curious about the economic potential of Android).
Blackberry is also interesting since pretty much everyone I know who's under 25 has one, but it is a platform where selling apps doesn't seem to have caught on that well. I've discussed it with some heavy blackberry users and apps are not something they really care that much about. So you'd want to try to find out some numbers regarding Blackberry app sales.
In the end it depends on your target market/product.
Are you building an enterprise targeted mobile app? - Build for Blackberry first and perhaps iPhone next.
Do you want to launch one consumer focused mobile app with a large feature set and perhaps some web service integration? - target a few platforms and make it available to as many users as possible.
Are you trying to build a series of small purpose built apps? - Definitely start with iPhone and get some revenue first.
My 2 cents.
Not Iphone.
Because of Apple and this strange policy of application approuval. You could not afford to close your entreprise only because apple has decided that your application is "not ok"
Edit : For sure, the AppStore has a huge potential client base. But it's also the only "mobile market place" from where you can be removed.
If you are having a hard time deciding, why not just develop for all of them at the same time!
PhoneGap is a utility that lets you build apps that run on several different platforms. It's great, and the guys at Nitobi are very willing to help you out.
I suspect at the moment you would get the largest pool of potential customers if you developed for the IPhone. Apple do have some issues with their control freakery but, hey, people use their AppStore.
Personally I am going to develop for Android because I absolutely love the design of their OS for mobile systems. Just brilliant. I also suspect that Android will increase in market share rapidly over the next few years. It's also Java instead of objective C so I would think easier to port to other environments as required. I'm doing development for fun though so if I make no money then who cares. If you actually need to make the development pay for itself then I guess IPhone is probably the way to go while keeping a close eye on Android.
The thing about the AppStore for the IPhone to keep in mind is that, not only do people use it, they also PAY for things from it. Android still doesn't let you sell to any country so even if they were to technically have more users - those users might not be able to pay for your stuff even if they wanted to. This is being worked on by google and will change but it does limit the amount of money your app could currently make.
It depends on your target audience. Business users will most likely use BlackBerrys or Windows Mobile (at least in my experience). Consumers (at least those willing to pay for software) will more likely use IPhones.
It depends on the application somewhat, but if you are serious about a startup it makes the most sense to start with the iPhone. The frameworks allow for the most "wow" factor with products, and there is simply a huge lead in number of units, and number of users used to running many different applications.
You may also want to consider other platforms (my vote for second to go after would be Android, and then Palm in third although that depends heavily on what your application is).
But something to consider is, you may want to start by doing one platform really well and if your application idea is well received, branch out. It's a lot of effort to develop for multiple platforms and each platform has various unique features you want to spend time taking full advantage of. I would also advise against using any of the cross-platform frameworks for the same reason, because when you target all you cannot really target one.
Depending on what you want to do, I think you should look at web toolkits. Web apps, a.k.a. Widgets run natively on Symbian, and through Opera on many other platforms. It should be simple to port to Palm WebOS if that catches on.
You can't do everything in a Widget, but you'd be surprised what is possible.
Based on my limited experience with seeing what devices are used on subways, trains, in airports, etc - I'd suggest either Blackberry or iPhone.
But more importantly, pick a platform you like and are excited about.
If you are not enthusiastic about the platform and you are doing it solely for the money then it will show. you might as well just make hamburgers or sell lotto and cigarettes.
Take this with a pinch of salt but this pie chart seems to suggest that Symbian is the most widely used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone
Or Java ?
Java is used on Blackberry's and will run on Symbian.
I wouldn't have said this 6 months ago. But I'd go with Android.
It'll be significantly more work porting in the long run. As more and more screens sizes and device profiles are coming out, but I think it's got the weakest developer market with the highest long-term potential earning power. The iPhone market is flooded, so, even if you get your app published to their catalogue, it's still almost impossible to get any kind of exposure.
Android, on the other hand, has huge growth potential and a pretty poorly followed market-place.
Verizon's massive push on the 'Droid' should open that particular device to a huge marketplace. It remains to be seen, however, if and how they'll allow 3rd parties to publish apps to their catalog.
Depending on your timeline, you might also consider Flash as a cross-platform option. Here's a list of heavy-hitter companies working to make mobile Flash happen in the near future (includes Google, RIM, Nokia, Sony Ericcson, Palm, Motorola, Samsung, etc.):
http://www.openscreenproject.org/partners/current_partners.html
...a video of some of their CEOs...
http://www.openscreenproject.org/about/
...and how to apply for some of the $10MM that Adobe's seeding into the market:
http://www.openscreenproject.org/developers/get_started.html
In summary, I'd suggest going for a cross-platform approach.
Symbian has by far the biggest number of users and has the largest choice for programming languages.
Symbian and Maemo will be running Qt in the near future, as well as supporting open python, open C, java etc etc etc.... (they also both have the Qt libraries available now)
I wouldn't put too many eggs in the iPhone basket. Your application would have to be monumentally good to be found and paid for by a significant number of people in the 100,000 items in their app store.
Android, don't really know anything about it. It seems like it could be a popular platform, its at least a real multi-tasking environment (unlike iPhone from app dev point of view).
Palm Web OS is insignificant at this time.
Perhaps the best solution in fact is to make your application web-based then you can just develop small apps which hook in to the web service?
Mono sounds interesting to me
Mono on Android - androidMono
Mono on Iphone
Like phonegap there is appcelerator titanium