I need to build a cross platform mobile app (iphone, android, etc). The app is for a company like a cellular operator (Tmobile, ATT). The app needs to do the following:
- Show previous bills (cached so that it does not have to download everytime)
- Need an internet connection to download newer bills, view recent data, etc.
Can I build a mobile web app to handle this? I understand that there is offline storage and iPhone has good support for web apps (full screen, good icons, offline, etc). Will a web app be the best approach to take as the app requires to be online? The app will not be used by lots of people, just customers of the website who don’t want to use an existing website. We are all web developers and a mobile web app looks like the best way to approach this.
A webapp can target a wide range of devices, it has the advantage of being accessible without downloading or installation. Moreover, if later you need to bring your WebApp on other devices (not just iPhone or Android, but also BlackBerry, Bada …) it is not necessary to reimplement everything.
For heavy features, data-intensive and graphically rich, or requiring API hardware (access to contacts, augmented reality …), it is advisable to make native apps.
Otherwise, to ensure compatibility and visibility, and in order to reduce development time, WebApp approach may be preferred: there are now HTML5 API as local database or geolocation, and implementations of CSS3 that allow interesting rendering in a short time.
Look for example, the JavaScript toolkit Wink that focuses on WebApps development: it allows to have simple and innovative components without having to learn a complex library.
Finally, Web views can be a way to build app using a WebApp, this allows App Store visibility, device API access … which makes a evolution possible while keeping the existing code.