Are HTML 5 and Native Platforms likely to meet?
The sheer volume of mobile-based applications that are to be managed and deployed in the upcoming years is heading towards explosion; it is still unclear which of these applications will run on the web versus natively.
A recent survey in which more than 2000 developers using Appcelerator’s Titanium development environment to create applications participated, revealed that almost every major mobile application development company is committed towards developing both Native and HTML 5 apps. Commenting on the results, Appcelerator’s principal mobile strategist Mike King said that all major mobile applications to e launched in future will be hybrid in nature i.e. will reflect features of both HTML 5 and native environment.
The survey also revealed that developers appreciate the fact that mobile applications should be integrated with social networks but the case is not the same when it comes to using some robust services provided by these social sites including social graphs. There is also a general agreement on the fact that social media sites such as Facebook are fast emerging as prominent application development platforms. While Facebook leads the pack of social media sites, several developers believe that Google will be playing a significant role in app development in times to come. Thus, comprehending Google trends is essential.
Apple remains the unchallenged ruler, when it comes to mobile computing platforms. However, King hints that the fragmentation in the Google Android camp is making developers loose enthusiasm. Microsoft’s continuous efforts to establish Windows as a mobile development platform across tablets, smart phones and PCs is finally gaining some attention from the development platform. In any case, the consolidation of mobile platforms doesn’t seem to be approaching in the near future. Furthermore, the introduction of bring-your-own-device phenomenon will make securing and managing mobile devices challenging than ever before.
Meanwhile, developers have clearly indicated that they plan to support various mobile development platforms. On one hand, this will make it drive all major IT organizations to the distraction point as they try to make incompatible end points meet and on the other hand will simplify swapping out mobile platforms for developers.