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Case Studies
mobileFX Embraces Cross-Platform with the Help of PhoneGap Build
06 Jul 2011
When mobileFX Studio first hit the market, its suite of development tools made it easier to design user interfaces and port mobile apps to various J2ME-enabled devices. But in the last year, the company fully embraced cross platform development and upgraded mobileFX Studio to support iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and more. Today, mobileFX Studio is an Integrated Development Environment and powerful rapid prototyping tool for quickly creating cross-platform mobile apps and 2D mobile games.
During the process of adding cross-platform support to mobileFX Studio, mobileFX developers discovered that the compilation and build process--particularly for iOS--was complex and timely. To solve this issue, they decided to integrate the PhoneGap Build API into mobileFX Studio. By incorporating PhoneGap Build customers get a simple, contained process for developing, testing and deploying mobile apps from a single Integrated Development Environment (IDE). PhoneGap Build, created by Nitobi Inc., compiles apps built with HTML, CSS and JavaScript in the cloud and delivers app store ready apps for Apple iOS, Google Android, BlackBerry, HP webOS, and Symbian devices.
“In a sense, PhoneGap takes over from where mobileFX Studio leaves off,” says Elias Politakis, CEO and CTO at mobileFX. mobileFX Studio helps developers design their apps and PhoneGap Build compiles them for multiple devices. “Integrating with PhoneGap Build allowed us to offer a high-end, cost-effective product with Rapid Prototyping Features and, above all, cross-platform development capabilities.”
Without PhoneGap Build, a development team would need Macs to compile iOS apps and PCs with Android, BlackBerry, Java and other Widget SDKs. “On top of that,” said Elias, “they’d need in-depth knowledge of every mobile platform. PhoneGap removes all of those requirements,” says Elias.
He adds that the PhoneGap Build API integration process was straightforward and can be easily implemented using HTTP and JSON. His development team followed the instructions “by the book” and had a proof of concept in less than three days. “The PhoneGap Build API is well designed and offers integration with complex IDEs in a programmer-friendly way,” he said.
During the integration process the PhoneGap dev team offered “great support in a timely manner,” which helped the mobileFX team deliver its solution faster. “The mobileFX team deeply appreciated the assistance we had from the PhoneGap dev team as we managed to deliver a really competitive product with hassle-free cooperation.”
Elias sees the growing interest in HTML5 and JavaScript apps as an critical philosophical shift in software development: “There’s a Latin phrase, ‘in medias res’, that means being in the center of it all. PhoneGap has really helped to re-animate HTML-based development and has put web developers at the center of mobile development.” With frameworks like PhoneGap, Elias believes HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript is here to stay, “reclaiming its rightful place.”
“Where mobile device manufacturers have failed to cooperate and offer a unified application development layer, PhoneGap has succeeded,” he said. “It offers us a unified development methodology, framework and an integration API that makes IDEs easily accessible.”
While mobileFX Studio still produces pure native apps for J2ME, BlackBerry and Symbian, it fully supports WebKit applications for iPhone and Android. Visit mobileFX Studio to check out the newly-launched version of mobileFX Studio with PhoneGap Build integration.
