Monetization of apps has always been a priority for developers and businesses. Until 2009, paid apps were the only way that developers could earn revenue from apps, and with most apps being priced at $0.99, significant revenue was dependent on a large number of downloads. Premium apps came with in-app purchasing options, but with a higher price tag, only a small fraction of consumers opted for them. In 2009, the scenario changed completely, beginning with Apple extending in-app purchases to cover free apps. This meant that developers could create a single, basic version of an app (rather than having to create a ‘lite’ version and a premium version), with the option to improve functionality through offering purchase of additional features or premium upgrades. Today, the Freemium model is not restricted merely to the iTunes Store, but has been adopted by developers for Google Play(formerly Android Market) and more recently, the Amazon App Store.

The Freemium approach is not new to software and gaming. For years, companies have offered free downloads to customers for a trial period as a means of letting them sample the product, with the belief that it would lead to paid conversions at a later stage, when they were convinced of the benefits of the product. However, with the surge in the number of mobile device users, the number of people with access to apps or games has increased considerably. According to statistics from Juniper Research, revenue from in-app purchases will reach $4.8 billion in 2016, more than twice the figure of $2.1 billion in 2011. The main reason for this is that more and more consumers are opting out of having to pay upfront for their apps and prefer the availability of choice as to whether or not to upgrade depending on their experience and frequency of use. For developers too, the Freemium model is beneficial for a number of reasons.

Additional revenue per customer

In-app purchases help developers get additional revenue from regular customers through offering extra features at a price. For instance, the Photo Effects app on iTunes Store lets users download the free version and edit their photos or videos by cropping the image, balancing colour or brightness, applying filters or photo effects, rotating the image and a host of other features. However, the user has to make an in-app purchase worth $2.99 for the option of saving and sharing the image on email or uploading to social networks.

Drop in piracy

Many paid apps faced the threat of piracy due to cheaper copycat or pirated versions being made available to users. This issue was faced by both iOS and Android developers. However, Freemium apps reduce the threat of piracy as they allow users to download the basic version at no cost. An example is the popular apps, Angry Birds, which went the freemium way on Google Play(Android Market) to put a check on piracy.

Reduced development costs

Another benefit that the freemium model offers developers is that they can initially develop a basic version of the app and offer smaller upgrade features at a price once the customer is a hooked. This reduces the time and development costs involved in getting the app on the store compared to developing a fully loaded premium paid app or offering several different $0.99 versions. In addition, as was the case with free apps, there isn’t a long wait for building up a fan base before recovering costs or gaining the confidence to develop a premium version.

Conclusion

Despite these benefits, the freemium model will not automatically guarantee success to all developers. Like with paid apps, consumers will only be willing to pay if they are satisfied with the functionality, features and the uniqueness of the app. With Freemium apps trending across iTunes Store, Google Play(Android Market) and Amazon App Store, developers will find it harder to get their apps noticed. Only innovative developers, who learn to maintain the fine balance between encouraging in-app purchases and overselling or exploiting the user, will see long term success.

TechAhead has developed hundreds of apps for iOS, Android and other mobile platforms. We have helped clients from across the world develop mobile apps in various categories, and are well acquainted with the process and technicalities of incorporating in-app purchases within apps. Get in touch with our mobile apps development experts on info@techaheadcorp.com for a FREE 30-minute no-obligation consultation($200 Value), if you have any app development requirement.

PhoneGap is an open source implementation of open standards. That means developers and companies can use PhoneGap for mobile applications that are free, commercial, open source, or any combination of these.

Building applications for each device–iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile and more- requires different frameworks and languages. PhoneGap bridges Web Applications and Mobile Devices using Standards-based Web technologies.

PhoneGap has two Components :

1. The PhoneGap Core Libraries are designed to handle common tasks supported by most devices-

a) Access geolocation from the PhoneGap JavaScript API

b) Access contacts from the PhoneGap JavaScript API

c) Invoke a call

2. PhoneGap’s JavaScript API makes those common phone functions available to JavaScript to run in the Browser (Native WebView).

Along with its Cross-platform Advantage PhoneGap comes with following Limitations:

i) Writing Javascript to do heavyweight data processing will typically be much slower than writing native code for the device and serving the results to a front-end.

ii) If we want to do some background processing (e.g. background services in Android), Javascript cannot achieve it.

iii) Similarly, if we plan to implement a very Complex Business Functionality, a preference would be given to the native language.

For such complex tasks, it is best to delegate the responsibility to Native Components.

Extend PhoneGap Framework – Create Native Components (Plugins)

The solution to the Limitations is to:

1. Create a Custom Native Component (Plugin): This Native Component(Plugin) would be built for each platform you plan to support.

2. Create a Custom Javascript API: All these Native Components (Plugins) needs to adhere to the Custom JavaScript API, which exposes their functionality to the JavaScript running in the Browser.

Thus, overall PhoneGap Architecture becomes:

They are Not Cross Platform:

Suppose you are developing a PhoneGap Plugin for two platforms: iOS and Android, you need-

1. One JavaScript file for Android, along with a Java file(Native Component) for Android.

2. A different JavaScript file for iOS, along with pair of .h and .m files (Native Components) for iOS.

Both JavaScript files can (and should) have the same interface for the developer who consumes it, but the implementations of each interface would be different.

Developing Android PhoneGap Plugin:

Regardless of which platform you begin developing with, following two methods play the key Role:

1. PluginResult.execute() is your core Native function: The JavaScript that you will write in your JS plugin will need to call Phonegap.exec (successCallback, failCallback, pluginName, action, [args]). That’s a JavaScript function, found in phonegap-version.x.x.js (or cordova-1.7.0rc1.jar or higher) that expects a function named “execute” on the Native Plugin side.

2. Phonegap.exec() is your core JS function: The Native Plugin need to define one call to Phonegap.exec() on the JS side.

“CopyImagesPlugin”: This plugin lets you copy any number of image resources form assets to the Device SD-Card.

Step 1: Create a new PhoneGap Project (along with all PhoneGap dependencies) using New Project Wizard in Eclipse. If You have not installed PhoneGap Development Addin to eclipse, then you can do it in following manner:

Open Eclipse -> Click on ‘Help’ on MenuBar-> ‘Install New Software’ ->

click on ‘Add’ button at new Window-> and copy following url to Location field:

https://svn.codespot.com/a/eclipselabs.org/mobile-web-development-with-phonegap/tags/r1.2/download

Give any name to Name Field. E.g. ‘Phonegap Addin Tool’

Click on ‘ok’ button this will start downloading al required Softwares.

Click ‘Next’ and finish the installation Wazard.

It will ask to Restart Eclipse and eclipce toolbar now includes PhoneGap icon as shown in below image:

Step 2: Implement the Plugin Class: “CopyToSdCard”

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001
/**
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 * Android PhoneGap Plugin to Copy images form Assets to SD-Card
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 */
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package com.phonegap.plugins.test;
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import java.io.File;
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import java.io.FileNotFoundException;
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import java.io.FileOutputStream;
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import java.io.IOException;
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import java.io.InputStream;
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import org.json.JSONArray;
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import org.json.JSONException;
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import android.util.Log;
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import com.phonegap.api.Plugin;
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import com.phonegap.api.PluginResult;
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public class CopyToSdCard extends Plugin
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{
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 @Override
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 public PluginResult execute(String action, JSONArray args, String callbackId) {
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021
 if (!action.equals("copyFiles")) 
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.INVALID_ACTION);
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 try {
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 String arr_length = args.getString(0);
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 String fileUrl =args.getString(1); 
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 String fileName = args.getString(1);
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 String dirName = 
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 "/mnt/sdcard/"+args.getString(2);
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 Boolean overwrite =false;
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 return this.downloadUrl(fileUrl, dirName, fileName,Integer.parseInt(arr_length), overwrite, callbackId);
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 } catch (JSONException e) {
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 e.printStackTrace();
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.JSON_EXCEPTION, e.getMessage());
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 } catch (InterruptedException e) {
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 e.printStackTrace();
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.ERROR, e.getMessage());
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 }
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 }
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 private PluginResult downloadUrl(String fileUrl, String dirName, String fileName,int arr_length, Boolean overwrite, String callbackId) throws InterruptedException, JSONException {
050
 
051
 try {
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 if(dirName.equalsIgnoreCase("null"))
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.OK, "invalid");
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 Log.d("PhoneGapLog", "Copying "+fileUrl + " into " + dirName + "/" + fileName);
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 for(int index=0;index<arr_length-2;index++)
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 {
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 File dir = new File(dirName);
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 if (!dir.exists()) {
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 Log.d("PhoneGapLog", "directory " + dirName + " created");
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 dir.mkdirs();
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 }
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 String name="image_"+index;
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 if(index==0)
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 {
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 continue;
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 }
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 File file = new File(dirName, name+".jpg");
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 if (!overwrite && file.exists()) {
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 Log.e("SaveToSdCardPlugin", "File already exist");
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.OK, "exist");
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 }
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 InputStream is=CopyToSdCard.this.ctx.getAssets().open("www/images/" +name+".jpg");
077
 byte[] buffer = new byte[1024];
078
 int readed = 0, 
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     totalReaded = 0;
080
 
081
 FileOutputStream fos = new FileOutputStream(file);
082
 
083
 while ((readed = is.read(buffer)) > 0) {
084
 
085
 fos.write(buffer, 0, readed);
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 totalReaded += readed;
087
 }
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 fos.close();
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090
 Log.e("PhoneGapLog", "Copy finished");
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092
 }
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.OK, "done");
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095
 }
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 catch (FileNotFoundException e) {
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 Log.e("PhoneGapLog", "File Not Found: " + e);
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.ERROR, 404);
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 }
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 catch (IOException e) {
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 Log.e("PhoneGapLog", "Error: " + e);
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 return new PluginResult(PluginResult.Status.ERROR, e.getMessage());
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 }
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 }
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}

Step 3: Implement Plugin JavaScript

1. Create a file called copyToSdCard.js

2. In it create a class named CopyToSdCard.

3. Create a member function named copyFiles ().

4. In copyFiles () function call PhoneGap.exec(<>, <>,<>,<>,<>);

5. Finally register both CopyToSdCard class as an JavaScript Plugin and register Java Class as the native Plugin (invoked from Javascript)

Below is the complete Source code for copyToSdCard.js file:

 java | 
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function CopyToSdCard() {}
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Downloader.prototype.copyFiles = function(index,fileUrl,dirName, params, win, fail) {
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//Make params hash optional.
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if (!fail) win = params;
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PhoneGap.exec(win, fail, "CopyToSdCard", " copyFiles", [index,fileUrl,dirName, params]);
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};
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PhoneGap.addConstructor(function() {
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PhoneGap.addPlugin("CopyImagesPlugin", new CopyToSdCard());
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/*’CopyImagesPlugin’ is the name with 'CopyToSdCard' Plugin is registered in res/xml.plugins.xml
13
*/
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});

Installing Plugins for Android

On Android, the plugin Java source code needs to be included in your PhoneGap Android project either in source form or as a JAR library.

In addition, the JavaScript for the plugin needs to be added to the ./assets/www/* folder of your PhoneGap Android project and linked in your HTML source code.

Finally an additional element needs to be added to the ./res/xml/plugins.xml file. The plugins.xml file describes what plugins are allowed to be called from JavaScript.

Step 4: Register plugin to res/xml/plugin.xml file:

 java | 
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1
<plugin name="CopyImagesPlugin" value="com.phonegap.plugins.test. CopyToSdCard"/>

Step 5: Add following javascript reference to your html file:

 java | 
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1
<script type="text/javascript" charset="utf-8" src="copyToSdCard.js"></script>

Step 6: Add following javascript code to html file:

 java | 
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01
<script type="text/javascript">
02
 
03
 
04
function saveToSdFromAssets ()
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{
06
        var filename=prompt("Please input the Directory name:","PhonegapPluginTest");
07
        if(filename.length>0)
08
            {
09
                callSavetoSdPluggin(filename);
10
            }
11
}
12
 
13
function callSavetoSdPluggin(fname)
14
{
15
 
16
var total_images_to_copy=10; //copy images from assets/www/images
17
 
18
  window.plugins.test.copyFiles (total_images_to_copy,fname,fname, false,
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  function(data)
20
  {
21
      if(data=="exist")
22
      {
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          navigator.notification.alert('File(s) already exist.', '', 'Message');
24
      }
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      else if(data=="invalid")
26
      {
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          //navigator.notification.alert('Not Saved: File name not valid.', '', 'Message');
28
      }
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      else
30
      {
31
          navigator.notification.alert('File(s) saved on sd card.','','Message');
32
      }
33
  },
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  function(data){ alert("error is : "+data); });
35
 // hideLoader();
36
}
37
</script>

Finally, call the above javascript method saveToSdFromAssets () from your Html file say on a button click as below:

 java | 
 copy code |
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1
<a href="javascript:void(0)" onclick="saveToSdFromAssets();" data-role="button" data-theme="a" value='Save to SD Card'  width='50%' >Save to SD Card</a>

Similarly, The same plugin can be developed for iOS and other mobile Platforms in respective Native Language (in case of android its Java).

At TechAhead, we have experience of creating cross platform mobile apps for our clients. If you have any requirement for cross platform mobile application development, contact us on info@techaheadcorp.com for FREE 30 minutes no obligation consultation with our mobile apps experts($200 Value).

Credits: wiki.phonegap.com

Samsung unveiled their much-anticipated smartphone, after a long wait, the Samsung Galaxy S III.  The phone, much like its predecessor – Galaxy S II, has top-drawer specifications and has potential to grab people’s eyeballs.

Samsung made a lot of improvements, both in terms of hardware specs, and features. Being full of features, and having lot of horsepower under its hood, it can give competition to any smartphone available in market today. That bring us to a question, Will it be able to give really hard competition to arch rival iPhone 4S? Let us try to find out.

Comparison at a Glance:

The Screen:

Samsung has once again outdone themselves. Galaxy S III boasts of HD Super AMOLED PenTile display, measuring 4.8” with a resolution of 1280×720 and 306 PPI. But they are yet to outdo Apple iPhone 4S, which has 326 PPI for its 3.5-inch screen. iPhone 4S beats Galaxy S III in resolution comparison.

Cameras:

The Galaxy S III boasts of two cameras with the ability to shoot in HD. The rear camera has a resolution of 8 MP, capable of shooting HD at 1080p at 30fps and pictures with stunning quality. It has 1.9 MP camera in the front that can shoot HD at 720p. The rear camera matches the one available in iPhone 4S, of 8MP, capable of recording HD at 1080p. Galaxy S III wins for the front camera though, as iPhone 4S only has a VGA camera in front.

The Processor:

Samsung Galaxy S III comes with a mighty 1.4GHz Exynos 4 Quad-core processor along with 1GB of RAM memory. iPhone 4S on the other hand has an Apple’s A5 1GHz dual-core chip. Also, iPhone has only 512 MB RAM. With more processing power and double sized RAM, Galaxy S III wins in this segment as well.

Voice Recognition:

Samsung also unveiled S Voice, which is Samsung Galaxy S III’s voice assistant and is seen as direct competitor of Siri in iPhone 4S. The quality and effectiveness of S Voice will only be known once the device launches in public, but it can give Siri a tough competition to Siri, which was used by Apple aggressively for promotion of iPhone 4S.

Conclusion:

Those who enjoy the Android OS will prefer the Samsung, and the Apple iOS fanboys will prefer the iPhone. In my opinion, with its features and better hardware, Samsung Galaxy S III seems to have an edge over iPhone 4S. It will be interesting to see how it matches up to iPhone 5, which is scheduled for launch later this year. What are your views about the comparison? Let us know in comments below.

No matter what you prefer from the two, you will agree that what really makes smartphones useful, be it Samsung Galaxy or iPhone, are the useful apps. At TechAhead, we have created hundreds of beautiful apps which  are very user friendly, and help businesses as well. If you have iPhone apps development or Android application development requirement, you can reach us on info@techaheadcorp.com for a FREE 30 minutes no obligation consultation with our mobile apps experts($200 value).

“Code once, run everywhere,” that’s what most developers want. From a business’s perspective, if you are looking for development of any software/application for your business, you also prefer to get cross-platform code which can run everywhere, and can help you save on development costs, while giving your business more presence. When it comes to development of mobile apps, there are two famous solutions for cross-platform development about which you will read everywhere; they are PhoneGap and Appcelerator Titanium.

So what a mobile developer should choose if he is looking for cross platform mobile apps development? Which is better, easier to use, supports more feature, etc? Let us try to find out by analyzing both of them.

PhoneGap: PhoneGap is HTML/CSS/JS. Anything you can do with them on a normal web page, you can do in a mobile browser’s web view. PhoneGap works as wrapper of sorts, by leveraging web views native to the mobile devices. PhoneGap allows you to build an app, as complex and modern as you want, while providing the ability to have it gracefully degrade for lower end devices, all in the same code base. PhoneGap allows you to use some of the phones features throught APIs to enhance your application

Titanium: Appcelerator Titanium, on the other hand takes your Javascript code, analyzes and preprocesses it and then pre-compiles it into a set of symbols that are resolved based on your applications uses of Titanium APIs. Titanium actually compiles your application and uses the iPhone SDK to build a native application.  For example, if you create an animation in Titanium, that’s not a CSS3 animation, it’s a Core Animation that runs on the GPU and the code generated/compiled is part of Core Animation APIs. Similar is for Android.  For android, it generates JVM bytecode from your JS and produce native Java Code.

The fundamental difference between PhoneGap and Appcelerator Titanium is that, while PhoneGap is a web based solution, Appcelerator Titanium is a pure Javascript API that creates native code. Major differences between them are tabled below:

Summary:

So, as it turns out, both are very much different from each other. Both of these frameworks are important and have their place in the mobile landscape. A developer should choose one based upon the requirements and the type of solution required. Neither is the wrong choice, but depending on a scenario, one might be better suited than the other.

At TechAhead, we have experience of creating native, as well as cross platform mobile apps for our clients. If you have any requirement for cross platform mobile application development, contact us on info@techaheadcorp.com for FREE 30 minutes no obligation consultation with our mobile apps experts($200 Value).

Credits: SavageLook.Com | Quora

iTunes App Store or Google Play(formerly Android Market), which one is more famous, which market has more apps, attracts more developers, has more free apps, etc are few questions that many users, developers, businesses, etc want to get answer to. Well, to help them all we created this infographic which has all major information regarding Google Play and iTunes App Store’s app stats and other details.

At TechAhead we have created apps on both, iOS and Android platform, for our clients. If you have any iPhone apps development or Android application development requirement, get in touch with us at info@techaheadcorp.com for FREE 30 minutes no obligation consultation with our mobile apps  experts($200 Value).

There are several factors that go into a good app. Design is a key feature. Functionality and user experience are also important. While the former might differ based on perceptions of the usefulness of an app’s features, there is no denying the importance of user interface (UI) or user experience (UX). Even an app that looks beautiful on the face of it might have issues with how user friendly it is, thereby dampening the user’s experience. Most iPhone apps that get featured are recognized for the great user experience they deliver. Here is a look at the top 10 iPhone apps with the best UI/UX along with an analysis of what makes them popular.

1. Path – A social networking app that helps maintain and share a journal, Path allows photos, music, videos or even your thoughts to be posted directly on social networks such as Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter. Originally an app that was used for photo sharing, Path has since evolved into a complete journal. Navigating its beautiful interface is easy with the iPhone’s swipe feature, enabling one of the best user experiences as everything can be accessed from the main screen by swiping. It also has a timeline feature that keeps track of the date and time of all posts.

2. Flipboard – Like the name suggests, this app helps in aggregating all posts and rss feeds into a single flipboard, so that everything can be accessed on the go. One of its coolest functions is that users can collect clippings from magazines or blogs that they want to read and store them either to Instapaper for immediate reading or to Read it Later for retrieval at a later date. It’s almost like creating a personalised magazine.

3. Hipmunk – This iPhone app allows users to find the cheapest flight between two points. What’s more, it has several useful features that enhance user experience such as reducing the annoyance factor by allowing agony filters such as the number of stops or flight duration. As an extension of the web version, this app allows users to bookmark a flight using the mobile search and then log in to the site with a secret code/password to make an online purchase.

4. Bump – This popular app allows sharing of contacts and photos just by bumping two phones against each other. It is a great way to transfer contact details to a new person in a formal setting or a social event. Alternatively, photos can be shared easily with family or friends.

5. Tweebot – This app from Tapbots is one of the most popular Twitter apps on the iPhone, due to its customised user interface, sounds and integration of the iPhone’s tap and swipe features for activating timeline, direct message viewing, adding links and other convenient functions. A new readability feature allows easy viewing through the browser.

6. Yelp – This handy iPhone app lets users locate restaurants, bars, gas stations or any other place of interest in a neighbourhood by browsing through the list of options and then narrowing down the choices based on proximity, price and opening hours. What’s more, users can access and read reviews by the ever-growing Yelp community, for help with making the right decision.

7. Clear to do – While an app that helps manage a to-do list may seem mundane, with its attractive and easy to use interface, Clear makes managing tasks simple and fun. It integrates the tap, pinch and swipe features of the iPhone beautifully to help update tasks, tick them off the list, add reminders and even make a shopping list – a handy way of managing daily tasks.

8. Airbnb – This app, which falls under the Travel category lets users easily find accommodation options in bed & breakfast places throughout the USA. Tapping on a destination of choice, swiping through the various bed and breakfast or apartment rentals, viewing photos of the places, narrowing down the options based on a map view of the proximity to a place of interest, makes navigating this app easy and entertaining.

9. GroupMe – This is a fun app that allows users to send out group messages to contacts in their address book. Group responses are displayed in a chat room style format. This app is great for communicating with groups, whether it is for informal networking with friends or coordinating with team members for organising an event.

10. Calcbot – Another app from Tapbots, this is one of the most user friendly calculator apps for the iPhone. It has a prominent display that shows recently entered operations. Besides simple functions such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, Calcbot can also perform scientific calculations.

At TechAhead, we have helped clients from across the world develop iPhone apps in various categories. Our iPhone apps development experts have the experience and skills for designing apps that focus on improving user experience. Write to us at info@techaheadcorp.com for a FREE 30-minute no obligation consultation with our iPhone experts ($200 Value).