Cross-platform mobile development can either involve a company developing the original app on a native platform (which could be iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry/RIM, etc.) or developing the original app in a singular environment for development that will then allow the app to be sent to many different native platforms. There are both pros and cons to cross-platform mobile app development. These tools are useful because they decrease costs and increase the speed at which apps are developed. In addition, cross-platform mobile development tools are generally quite simple to use as they are based off of the common languages for scripting, including CSS, HTML, and JavaScript.
However, cross-platform mobile development does have a few drawbacks. First, mobile operating systems are frequently updated. Whenever a mobile operating system receives a new update, the applications must also be updated to be compatible with the new system. In addition, rendering times with cross-platform mobile development may be longer as each operating system needs a separate set of code.
A mobile app is the most effective way to make your business or service available to people on their mobile devices, giving you the power to put your product in their hands, on the go. With native apps, you get more access to a device’s capabilities: You can communicate and market via push notifications, leverage hardware on devices like GPS for location-based marketing, streamline your field operations, and more. But with different operating systems and devices—iOS, Android, and Windows, primarily—which require different source codes to run natively, targeting a mobile audience isn’t always as simple as just creating a mobile version of your site.
Why? Because hiring developers who are specialized in each platform, building apps for each, then maintaining and updating those separate versions can be complex, expensive and time consuming. That’s where hybrid and cross-platform apps come in. These apps are able run on more than just one platform at a time, without developers having to create separate versions of app code.
Sencha: Sencha is a tool that lets you develop your apps in HTML5.
Phonegap: PhoneGap is a free resource that first-time app developers can use to translate code from HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript.
Appcelerator Titanium: Using JavaScript, Titanium’s SDK creates native iOS and Android apps while reusing anywhere from 60% to 90% of the same code for all the apps you make, thereby saving you a significant amount of time. and goes on..