I wanted to take this opportunity to slide away from web design, and introduce everybody to PhoneGap, in case you
haven’t heard of it already – because whilst it’s been around since 2009, it’s really starting to gather momentum now.
PhoneGap lets web designers use code they already know – HTML and Javascript, to develop and compile native applications for use on mobile devices.
But this isn’t just a fancy mobile framework. It lets you utilise a devices native features, like a camera or notification (for example), and then all you have to do is build your new app once and then compile it for each operator you’d like an app for – much neater than building once for Apple, once for Android, once for Blackberry, once for Symbian… and so on.
I’m alternatively very excited by this.. and concerned. My concern?
Apple. Apple and their ability to revoke your right to publish an app that isn’t developed specifically to their liking. That’s pretty much it – but it’s a pretty big concern, given Apple’s share of the App market.
However, that shouldn’t affect the other devices PhoneGap lets you build for. And, with Dreamweaver CS5.5, you can build these PhoneGap apps straight into Dreamweaver, with code hints and everything (and no, I’m not being sponsored by Adobe!). That’s pretty darn cool.
So I want to know if there’s any of you out there using PhoneGap out there, for clients or for internal projects, and what your experiences were. Good/bad? Worth while? Let me know!
Since PhoneGap is simply a framework project inside xCode and uses HTML5 and other web technologies that Apple have openly supported I don’t see them disallowing apps made using PhoneGap from the app store.
My concern is Adobe. They recently purchased PhoneGap and are already charging for use of the service. Should their feud with Apple ever respawn then who’s to say that they would end support for iOS?