Question

I work in a small start-up company with 2 other developers. We have an upcoming mobile application project intended for both iPhone and Android platforms. Features :

1. There will be a back-end web server for handling the data model.
2. The mobile application(s) should connect to the web server and provide the users with a front end for a few simple tasks (Registering with a user name and a password, log in, searching for records matching some criteria, etc).
3. We will be storing location information in the web server and want to expose this information to the mobile apps. The mobile apps need to have the ability to integrate with any existing navigating systems in the mobile device and supply a location/locations to it.
4. There will be about 10 different interfaces in the application.

none of us have much experience in developing mobile apps (We have only done toy projects with Android) and have zero mobile UI development experience. I want to know a couple of things:

1. Should we go about developing two different applications for the two mobile platforms? If we do it like that, can both of those applications connect to the same back-end or will we have to have two back-ends as well?
2. Are there any mobile app frameworks which can enable us to write a single application and target it to both those platforms?
3. Which is the easier platform out of these two to develop apps for? (In case we have to develop two separate applications.)
4. Or should we just make a web application that can be accessed from mobile devices? If so, can we integrate with any other applications in the mobile (Navigation app, etc)?

Please let me know if you need more information/clarifications.

Answer 1

Yes, you need 2 applications for two platforms, but the single back-end is sufficient for any client platforms (including others you may consider to support later on).

You should possibly look at PhoneGap framework or Appcelerator if any of them allows you to develop all features you required. If it meets you needs you’ll be able to develop one application and build it to both platforms.

Both platforms are similar for mobile development – I think no-one is easier than another provided that developers are familiar with corresponding platform. To me, Android development is easier because it uses a well-known language Java, may support different IDEs, including public ones such as Eclipse, and I have a background in Android 😉

If a web-application can provide all required functionality I’d suggest to start with developing a web-app.