Mobile Application Development

Mobile Application Development

This article is dedicated to those who are less fortunate to know the technology behind the latest Apple and Microsoft products which dominate the market in Mobile and Computing technologies. While Microsoft and Windows dominate the PC market, Apples iPod, iPhone and iPad dominate the Mobile market. I know about a lot of people who, even though using either Windows and/or Mac platforms are ignorant about the nittygritties when it comes to application development and distribution on these platforms. Let us see some comparison between them.

iPod, iPhone and iPad do not need any introduction. They have changed the way we look at the technology. Even a small child will know what they are and how to operate it. They have set a new trend in the electronic and telecommunication industry. Now every manufacturer is trying to bring out their version of touch enabled gadgets in the market. There are a couple of products already available in the market which competes with Apple products in both look and feel as well as functionality. Apple has iOS operating system for the mobile platform and Mac OS for the Computers. The User Experience of the iOS is amazing because of the foundation in which it is built.

Microsoft has also come up with their version of Windows Mobile/Phone OS and many Computer manufacturers have brought Touch enabled Windows based Tablet PCs in the market. They have Windows 7 OS with Touch Features for the PC and Windows Mobile/Phone OS for the Mobile platform. Microsoft is coming up with their newer version of Windows Operating System, Windows 8 which will have improved touch features and compatibility with the Windows Phone 8 also known as Tango. They say it will be an integrated Operating System for both Mobile and Computing platforms.

To develop applications for iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch you have Apples Xcode Application Development Tool IDE and iOS Software Development Kit SDK. You can download the complete Xcode and iOS SDK by registering as an Apple Developer. But you also need a Mac Computer to run Xcode, deploy the developed application and further release it. We have iTunes for iPod devices enabling us to download and organize music, video and other contents as well as applications. You can distribute the developed applications only through the Apple App Store. It is basically a digital application distribution platform. One can download various applications written for iOS by browsing the App Store. There are Apples as well as thirdparty applications available on the App Store. Some are free applications and some of them you have to buy.

In addition to Apples own application development tools, there are some thirdparty applications recently launched in the market using which we can develop iPhone, iPode and iPad applications.

We also have a number of application development tools for Windows based devices. Again some are free and some are paid ones. It is comparatively easy to develop Windows based applications and distribute them using these tools. Like Xcode for Apple, Microsoft has their Visual Studio IDE for you to develop, test and deploy the applications. You need a Windows based computer to run these tools and develop applications. Contrary to applications for iOS devices, Windows applications can be easily downloaded from any Web Site.

Both Apple and Microsoft platforms have their own advantages and disadvantages. We dont yet know whether one will take over the other in the near future. We also have Android based devices coming up strongly, competing with Apple and Microsoft. There are different tools available to develop and distribute the Android based applications.