Developers have flocked to Apple's iPhone SDK, but there is a significant barrier to entry: knowledge of Objective-C, the programming language that is used to build native iPhone apps.
Fortunately, cooking up a hot iPhone app doesn't require you to get too geeky. Developers who don't know Objective-C, or who don't want to learn yet another programming language, can build native iPhone apps using these five tools.
If you know HTML/CSS and JavaScript, you can build native iPhone apps (and Android apps) using Appcelerator's Titanium Mobile development platform. The Titanium Mobile APIs provide developers with access to iPhone features such as the accelerometer and filesystem, as well as third-party services like Facebook.
Price: Free
Corona enables developers to build native iPhone apps using a proprietary language that Ansca Mobile, the company behind Corona, bills as being "easier than writing Javascript or ActionScript". Like Titanium Mobile, the Corona SDK gives developers access to iPhone functionality such as GPS and the camera.
Price: $99 ("special introductory price")
PhoneGap is another development platform worth looking at if you're familiar with HTML/CSS and JavaScript. In the past, there were some issues with PhoneGap apps being rejected by Apple, but that has since been resolved and apps built with PhoneGap are apparently officially welcomed for consideration.
Price: Free
If your programming language of choice is Ruby, Rhodes may be just what you're looking for. It's an open source framework for building native mobile applications, including native iPhone apps, that relies on HTML and Ruby.
Price: free for open sourced apps, $500 per commercial app
The iPhone may not support Flash, but that doesn't mean that you won't soon be able to build native iPhone apps using it. Adobe Flash CS5, which is currently in private beta, will include a new feature called Packager for iPhone. As the name implies, the Packager will let Flash developers package their Flash projects for the iPhone.
Price: To Be Announced
Reader comments (10)
8:32PM on 15th February 2010
... "Corona enables developers to build native iPhone apps using a proprietary language"
Please note that the language used for developing apps with Corona is not proprietary. It is Lua, a "powerful, fast, lightweight, embeddable scripting language". See www.lua.org for more details on the language. Also, unlike the other tools mentioned, Corona makes full utilization of graphics processing hardware under the hood to enable high performance multimedia apps.
--Eric
www.anscamobile.com
Managing Director at n3w media
9:50AM on 16th February 2010
Has anyone looked at the quality and maintainability of the code produced by these applications?
12:16PM on 16th February 2010
What about web apps optimized for the IPhone? We've just released our on www.mobipolls.com, where users can get free ITunes codes by answering on-line surveys
Tech Reporter at Econsultancy
4:15PM on 16th February 2010
Eric,
Thanks for the clarification.
Ed,
I've played around with Titanium Mobile and PhoneGap. Since you're working in HTML/CSS and JavaScript, the maintainability is pretty darn good in my opinion. And since Apple takes the time to approve apps, I'd assume that any tool that is producing apps that get approved must be okay. PhoneGap had some issues early on that were resolved.
Managing Director at n3w media
6:44PM on 16th February 2010
Hi Patricio
Well I guess that is one perspective on maintainability and quality.
We develop native apps, so if we were woking on iPhone we would absolutely only use Objective-C.
Using these high level code generators, is it possible to make use of the hardware specific features of the iPhone? That would be problematic with a 'web app', but as these apps are generating native code, then theoretically it should be possible I guess. I assume that they also provide a set of interface controls to enable the developer to to create a user experience that is consistent with the core apps on the platform (rather than some web style experience).
I am sure these code generators have their place, and thanks for publishing a useful precise of them.
All the best.
Ed
Tech Reporter at Econsultancy
12:02AM on 17th February 2010
Ed,
I think a lot depends on your needs and goals. One of the biggest advantages offered by the tools mentioned here is that most let developers write code once and deploy their applications on multiple platforms (i.e. iPhone, Android, etc.).
Most of the tools here do provide access to hardware-specific features, such as the accelerometer and camera, but I'm sure there are instances in which building an application in Objective-C is necessary or desirable.
Managing Director at n3w media
8:11AM on 17th February 2010
Patricio,
Totally agree with you that a lot depends on your needs and goals. The write once deploy cross platform argument is a harder one to agree with when one considers the significant hardware and UI differences between different platforms.
But a good article and interesting discussion.
12:15AM on 20th February 2010
For those app developers that don't know Objective-C and Cocoa Touch and don't want to outsource development, check out localbeacon (an iphone app builder) at www.bigforge.com. Great for those who want to build just one app or developers interested in white label. Full integration of Twitter and Facebook.
8:44AM on 25th March 2010
For Java developers there is iSpectrum.
This solution allows you to develop native iPhone apps for iPhone, and debug them from Eclipse. Plus, it is free for open source projects.
7:18PM on 8th September 2012
Thanks for sharing this new, advance information.. It's really amazing and give me a lot of information .. Please share me more. .. Thanks..!!!!!
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