When it comes to creating a mobile app, you have a number of different kinds of development platforms to choose from. Terrific, right? Well, only if you understand your options.
For starters, there are platforms that allow mobile software engineers to code their apps in a structured and efficient way. These platforms are essentially software development kits — SDKs — for engineers that provide a library of functions, thereby eliminating the need to reinvent the wheel for basic app functions.
One such platform is Titanium Mobile from Appcelerator. Titanium Mobile provides a set of tools for engineers to develop mobile apps using languages and tools such as Javascript, CSS, HTML, and Ruby. Another coding platform solution for mobile software engineers is provided by PhoneGap. This option is an open-source set of tools, based on HTML5, that leverages web technologies HTML and JavaScript in a free, open-source framework to give access to a smartphone’s SDK APIs using standards-based web technologies to bridge web applications and mobile devices.
The second major category is that of non-coding solutions for native apps. Of course, you already know one of the key players here: MobiFlex’s ViziApps, which provides a visual means for building and creating native apps that run native features on iPhones and Android phones; and web apps that run on any mobile device with a full browser. With ViziApps, users can design and test the apps for free; publishing them involves a modest monthly subscription fee or, is even free in some cases.
Another company that offers a non-coding solution — though it may require coding in some cases — is Pyxis Mobile. Pyxis provides a toolkit for creating apps that is downloaded to the user’s server and runs within the user’s site. While a robust solution, it is also very expensive: license fees can start at over $50,000, and the complexity of the system often requires users to take training courses costing thousands of dollars.
The third major category of platforms includes those that enable the user to create web apps, generally without coding. Some web-app solutions require HTML or Javascript, but many web apps can be created without coding, and there are a number of startup companies offering such services. These web app suppliers provide a means for reformatting web pages to fit the mobile form factor. Web apps are typically inexpensive to create and publish; they can also be created and published quickly because they generally use existing content available on the user’s web site or other marketing materials. Web apps can be published directly from the user’s web site, rather than going through the app market and store review and publishing processes.
MobiFlex’s ViziApps recently added web app capabilities, making it the first and only no-coding solution for creating both web apps and native apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones in the same integrated ViziApps Studio. Web apps created with ViziApps are available for immediate use on any of the more than 5,000 mobile devices that support full browser capabilities.
Last week, we told you about ViziApps 2.0 and its new web appcapabilities, which make it the first and only no-coding solution for creating both web and native apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones.
We also told you how inexpensive those solutions are.
But what’s even better than inexpensive? How about free?
That’s right: to celebrate the launch of ViziApps 2.0, MobiFlex has introduced the ViziApps Free plans, which allow users to publish aViziApps web app with unlimited static-content pages for up to 2 million page views per month. ViziApps native apps for a single user are also free; think personal apps to keep track of schedules, product pricing, customer information, and more.
For complete information on all the pricing options available, visit www.viziapps.com.
If you’ve been following this space, you already know all about – and hopefully have been impressed by – ViziApps’ native app capabilities. But never content to rest on its laurels, MobiFlex has just added web app capabilities to ViziApps 2.0, making it the first and only no coding solution for creating both web and native apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones.
Who doesn’t love a one-stop shop? Now users who choose ViziApps 2.0 can design and test both native and web mobile apps for free. Web apps created with ViziApps are available for immediate use on any of the more than 5,000 mobile devices that support full browser capabilities.
The addition is a logical expansion for MobiFlex, whose users had been clamoring for ViziApps web app capabilities. And who can blame them? ViziApps 2.0 allows small- to mid-sized businesses and enterprises to fully engage with employees and customers wherever they are through custom mobile apps that can be created and published in days – or even hours.
Think this is all really going to cost you? Hardly. Publishing fees for ViziApps web apps range from a mere $6.95 to $149 per month, depending on the number of web app pages and page views. And what’s more, to celebrate the launch of ViziApps 2.0, MobiFlex is introducing the ViziApps Free plan, which allows users to publish a ViziApps web app with unlimited static-content pages for up to 2 million page views per month. ViziApps 2.0 also enables users to publish a ViziApps native app for free for their own use on their iPhone or Android phone.
Sometimes even the best gets better.
It should go without saying that Facebook is becoming one of the most important marketing tools at a small business’s disposal. The power of social media — and Facebook in particular — to help a business engage with and build community among its customers cannot be overstated.
Which is why we have, with MobiFlex 1.96, added a Facebook sharing capability to our ViziApps mobile app development tool. With it, users have the ability to share text and media files — including images, videos, and audio — via Facebook, as well as via SMS and e-mail. Users simply select the Share action in the property sheets of buttons, image buttons, tables, and switches.
The addition was a no-brainer for the MobiFlex team. We’ve always been committed to helping our users engage with their customers, employees, partners, and community at large, and Facebook is one of the fastest and most effective ways to do that.
So what else is new? MobiFlex 1.96 has added an array of other features, including a Select action for tables that enables multiple table rows to be selected and counted; and a Go to Previous Page action, which we discussed here last week. The latter allows users to improve their app’s user experience and seamlessly link from their app to external resources, such as help documentation, with the tap of the back button.