The mobile industry is abuzz over the news about major mobile platforms releasing their own application store. Developers are working very hard to push their latest projects into the hands of eager mobile users. But what has come apparent within the communities, as far as I know, is the gap between mobile platforms. One company trying to tackle this isssue is PhoneGap.
PhoneGap is an open source development tool under MIT license and proudly sponsored by Nitobi. The product is used for building fast and easy mobile applications using Javascript and HTML, while taking advantage of core features (GPS, sound, accelerometer, vibration) in the iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.
“The purpose of PhoneGap is for PhoneGap to cease to exist.
Today, mobile development is a mess. Building applications for each device–iPhone, Google Android, Windows Mobile and so forth–requires a different development framework and programming language. As such, phones and other mobile devices have become second class citizens.
We aim to change that by enabling web technologies to work with native device features such as geo-location and accelerometers. In PhoneGap, we’re building a cross-platform framework for device-neutral mobile development.”
Being an open source project, PhoneGap is looking to get ambitious web and mobile developers, along with their respective communities, to help build what can potentially be a powerful tool for full-time developers, part-time developers and hobbyists.
As for why the need for PhoneGap, Ellis, PhoneGap’s founder said, “There are not a lot of Objective-C developers…” Objective-C is a primary language used to develop iPhone and Mac OS applications. “We’re all Web developers here,” Ellis said of Nitobi. “And there are more Web developers than Objective-C developers.”
Do you think PhoneGap could help boost development and the help the industry?
What limitations and benefits can you foresee developing with PhoneGap?



After using
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