Cross-Platform Mobile Apps Development
iOS | Android | BlackBerry| Windows Phone | Symbian | WebOS
Open Merchant Account Specialists in cross-platform mobile apps
Developing Cross-Platform Mobile Apps Why we design with PhoneGap A PhoneGap–based application is a thin layer of native code that resides between the smartphone OS and a collection of HTML, JavaScript, CSS and Image files that forms your mobile app. This layer of native code is different for each smartphone OS, but the HTML and associated files can be virtually identical. All modern smartphones have very good support for HTML5, and have shed some of the legacy baggage that plagued website designers for years. There has never been an “Internet explorer 6” for smartphones, so there is no need to write code into your mobile app to support non-HTML5 compliant browsers PhoneGap also offers a free service named “PhoneGap Build” that allows you compile your HTML5 based mobile app for iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, WebOS and
Designing a successful mobile app Our methodology
Pick an idea that has a broad public appeal, or
Designing attractive UI for mobile apps Why we design using JQuery Mobile
Check out competition in each smartphone
Getting your iPhone app past review on the first submission. Developers who are new to iOS development are often disappointed when their
Design a user interface that scales in size for
application is rejected by Apple for the infamous “10.6 … if your user interface is complex
both smartphone and tablet screen sizes.
or less than very good it may be rejected”. By using the JQuery Mobile framework, your
Test your application in physical devices, not
applications become more manageable, and generally more attractive. Furthermore,
simulators, where possible.
online tools such as Codiqa offer a simple drag-and-drop interface that allows you
Submit to every app store, smaller app stores may have less customers, but there will be
serious application development
a must-have for a niche market.
app store.
Symbian simultaneously. Although platform specific development tools are a must for
prototype your mobile app graphically, and export the final design to a JQuery Mobile based HTML5 web application.
less competition also.
A word of note: Performance considerations for mobile apps are
Translate your application description to
somewhat different for mobile websites. Since it is more efficient to serve
every language you can. Think beyond the UK
files from the device itself, rather than from the internet. Therefore, if you export from Codiqa, you should change all references to remote files
and USA.
to device - relative links. Mobile applications have an elevated level of trust when compared to mobile websites. PhoneGap offers access to phone sensors, such as GPS, accelerometer & camera, but also has relaxed cross-domain request restrictions. This means that your application can communicate with any other webserver on the Internet, a right not bestowed upon less trustworthy mobile websites, which can only communicate with the server which served the website.
Open Merchant Account - Specialists in cross platform mobile apps
Paid-for or Ad supported? A critical decision that must be made is whether you intend to sell your application or provide it free, with ad support. Paid-for apps tend to offer a spike in income initially, and a gradually decreasing revenue stream afterwards. Free apps tend to show a gradually increasing revenue stream, although one that may take many months to match the initial sales level of a paid-for app.
Limits of PhoneGap applications
Managing data in your mobile app It is said that “No app is an island”, meaning that every app will communicate with the
PhoneGap applications may never be capable of creating 3D games or augmented reality. However PhoneGap apps can be extended with platformspecific native code through plugins. However this does undermine the main advantage of PhoneGap.
Internet to obtain dynamic data, or report user generated data back to the Internet to be shared with other users. Typically this would be a CMS system running on a webserver. Since PhoneGap mobile apps run JavaScript, which has better support for JSON than XML, we would recommend that your CMS system should return JSON data to requests from your mobile apps. Furthermore, this data should be kept as concise as possible, since mobile data traffic can sometimes be quite sluggish. Data returned from the CMS system should be cached in “LocalStorage” on the mobile
App store reviews
device, so that the user can still view fresh data regardless of connectivity. LocalStorage is
All app stores (with the exception of Google Play) will review your app prior to public release. Apple has a notoriously strict review process, whereas BlackBerry and Amazon have very superficial reviews. As a rule of thumb, if your app passes Apple review, it is acceptable to every other app store. Be prepared for a two-week review cycle at most app stores.
long-running process such as downloads.
limited to 5Mb, and platform such as Windows Phone require a progress indicator for
Submitting your app to app stores One of the most effective ways of making your application successful is to submit your application to every app store you can. Smaller app stores have fewer customers, but less competition will lead to proportionally more sales.
Android stores include: Google Play, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, LG smart world, and Samsung Apps. Of these, B&N Nook tends to have the best consumer / competition ratio, leading to best revenues.
BlackBerry’s app store is called AppWorld. You should compile your application for both BBOS and QNX, to ensure your app works on BlackBerry Smartphones, the PlayBook and the BlackBerry 10.
Apple’s app store is by far the best paying app store, so the annual fee of $99 is a purchase that is well worth it.
Windows app store requires a similar $99 annual fee, but is free to students via the DreamSpark program
Nokia OVI is very much for the lower end of the market, but is still very popular in emerging markets like Russia, and Brazil.
HP/Palm WebOS is a dying OS, but worth submitting anyway.
Open Merchant Account - Specialists in cross platform mobile apps
How can we help? There are many companies that offer mobile app development, but very few can provide your app across the full spectrum of mobile operating systems. Many companies have developed one or two mobile apps for clients; we have developed over 100 applications across all platforms. In 2011, it was remarked by Microsoft that our company was the most prolific mobile application developer in Ireland. We develop our applications based on the industry standard PhoneGap and JQuery Mobile frameworks. Our in-house designed CMS system is used in conjunction with our apps to afford us the flexibility to deliver just the data you need to your app. We offer a free prototyping service, and our CMS system can be hosted on your servers free of charge, with no ongoing charges.
Contact us We build great cross-platform mobile apps! Contact us now: T: +44 28 7122 6151 E: Fiach@openmerchantaccount.com Twitter: @OMA_mobileapps
Specialists in cross-platform mobile apps
Open Merchant Account Ltd 10 Nualamont Drive Derry BT48 9PH Northern Ireland Tel. +44 28 71225151 Email: fiach@openmerchantaccount.com