Evaluating Cross-Platform Development Approaches for Mobile Applications

The fragmented smartphone market with at least five important mobile platforms makes native development of mobile applications (apps) a challenging and costly endeavour. Cross-platform development might alleviate this situation. Several cross-platform approaches have emerged, which we classify in a first step. In order to compare concrete cross-platform solutions, we compiled a set of criteria to assess cross-platform development approaches. Based on these criteria, we evaluated Web apps, apps developed with PhoneGap or Titanium Mobile, and – for comparison – natively developed apps. We present our findings as reference tables and generalize our results. Our criteria have proven to be viable for follow-up evaluations. With regard to the approaches, we found PhoneGap viable if very close resemblance to a native look & feel can be neglected.