The most economical way to target multiple mobile platforms

Question

I was given the task of contemplating a mobile application that would need to run for approx. 1000 devices. These devices already exist and consist of iPhone, BlackBerry, Androids, Windows Mobile and Netbooks. The application will have simple reporting capabilities and a set of forms.

In any case, the obvious solution would be to develop some kind of browser-based solution, although, given the periodically connected nature of the devices, there is a possibility of losing / not saving data.

Therefore, instead of creating a complex application for each platform, I thought that we could create what is actually a form generator, with basic stand-alone storage capabilities (text files) designed to run on each device and for the device to generate a form based, for example , on an XML file that he could request from any server, which led to minimal expenses for the development of a specialist and the ability to run most of the logic from the end of the server, while the devices were dumb ntami that displays the form and upload data, when there is available link.

In any case, my question is generalized, how did you decide to support multiple devices for your application. Is this always an inevitable problem, and you just need to call to support 1 or 2, or pay developers to write code for each platform or, alternatively, supply pre-installed devices to the company?

Many thanks

James

Answer 1

I have not used this, so I can not vouch for it in any way, but the RhoMobile project is worth exploring.

You can also check the following SO questions

Technology for writing iPhone, BlackBerry and Android phones at the same time?

Is there a multi-platform application development platform for iPhone / Android?

Answer 2

Have you considered creating an HTML5 web application with the ability to store data locally, etc., so that it can work offline too? This is probably the best way to create portable applications if you don’t need to use specific phone API features (like GPS). This would be an ideal way to make an application similar to the one you are describing.

Answer 3

Since your application mainly includes user interface forms, you can go for the development of J2ME, which can give you a generic device application. But yes, writing a full-featured application that works great with every device is a big problem, and you will need to write a special application for optimal use of the device.

Answer 4

There are already many products that do what you want. If not, as mentioned, RhoMobile ( http://rhomobile.com/ ) is an option.

You should really browse the various app stores there, there are several options: Canvas ( http://www.gocanvas.com ), eXzact ( http://www.iformbuilder.com ), Pronto Forms ( http: //www.prontoforms. com / ). In addition, Google code has an ODK ( http://code.google.com/p/open-data-kit/wiki/ODKCollect )

Good luck I worked on several projects in which we decided to just build some kind of builder (MDA, forms, etc.). Building a builder is always more complicated than you expect.