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Possible Duplicate:
Write once deploy on Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7, Android and iPhone?

Currently I have created a 2 simple apps for iphone and 1 for windows phone. When I go to promote these apps they usually....well do you have this for android or blackberry or whatever.

Do I have to rewrite my applications in every environment in order to have them compatible across all the operating systems out there? Is there tools that address this or do you guys simply recreate the app in eclipse, xcode, visual studio etc..?

Community
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Nick LaMarca
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  • possible duplicate of [Write once deploy on Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7, Android and iPhone?](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5189616/write-once-deploy-on-windows-mobile-6-windows-phone-7-android-and-iphone) and [a bunch of others](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/android+iphone+windows-phone-7). – Josh Lee Mar 11 '11 at 22:19

6 Answers6

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Complex applications generally need to be created with the native environment.

Simple applications can be created with cross platform tools like Titanium and PhoneGap:
- http://www.appcelerator.com/
- http://www.phonegap.com/

@Fraggle (see comment)

I have quite some experience with Appcelerator Titanium. The choice for native v.s. cross-plafrom completely depends on the kind of application you need and your knowledge. General considerations:

  • Can the application be created with web technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript?
  • What language / environment do I know the best (native vs web technologies)?
  • How much time and money can I spend?
  • Do I really need cross-platform compatibility?

Most mobile phone applications only provide an easy interface for internet services like news updates, traffic info, social media and video. Those applications can be easily written with web technologies. Therefor most mobile applications can be written with tools like Titanium. The great thing about Titanium: Get the native experience on multiple devices while only maintaining one code-base. Cheap way of developing cross-platform applications.

Many developers use Titanium because they don't know the native language (objective-C / java), but they have extensive knowledge about web technologies. This way they can create pretty nice applications without learning new languages. Titanium is actually used for many non-cross-platform applications.

Complex graphics, device specific tools and complex interfaces still require the native environment.

Native applications will always perform better and use device specific features, but do you really need that degree of perfection? Yes, develop native applications for every device. No, simply create one cross-platform application.

Check this page to see what Titanium can do:
http://www.appcelerator.com/showcase/applications-showcase/

Anne
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  • @Anne->Do you speak from experience with these tools, or can you provide some links with the limitations? Not that I doubt you, its what I would expect in fact, but would be nice to know where something shifts from "simple" to "complex". – Fraggle Mar 12 '11 at 12:58
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You may be able to use a third party tool like http://www.phonegap.com.

Miyagi Coder
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There are many options for cross-platform app development, but I would suggest Adobe AIR as it is also supported on the Blackberry Playbook by RIM. As far as I know, it's the only cross-platform runtime that is supported by a major platform owner.

I have also seen it do well on Android, and iOS support is also advertized.

Matthew
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Qt (now owned by Nokia) is another provider of a cross platform mobile framework http://qt.nokia.com/

Even though iphone and android seem to be missing from their official Supported Platforms list I think there is an Android 2.3 release just around the corner. Qt for Iphone also seems to be in the works.

Simen S
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Well there are definitely some supposed "write once, run everwhere" solutions out there. Here is one from RhoMobile which specializes in this space. But that is just what a quick Google search turned up. I haven't tried any of them.

I had an app that was developed for Android, and I ended up essentially re-writing it in Objective-C when I wanted to port it over to iPhone. It worked out pretty well and took less time than I thought (considering I hadn't done any iPhone programming prior). But now of course I have 2 code bases that I have to maintain and when I add features I'll have to do it for both the Android and iPhone version.

So having a single code base that lets me build apps for multiple platforms would be great. Do any of the tools out there work well? Not sure. Do they give you full control to make your app look and operate the way you want it, and make us of all the OS's features? Not sure.

Fraggle
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HTML5 may be one solution if the app you providing is simple enough. Google is doing it this way. Otherwise, even you have anything "cross-phone" it may still feels alien.

Ryan
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