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==Application stores==
==Application stores==
[[List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices|Several initiatives]] exist both from mobile vendor and mobile operators around the world. Application developers<ref>Mobile Application Development http://www.webmapsolutions.com/mobile-arcgis-paper-gps-data-collection</ref> can propose and publish their applications on the [[List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices|stores]], being rewarded by a revenue sharing of the selling price. Most famous is Apple's [[App Store (iOS)|App Store]], where only approved applications may be distributed and run on iOS devices (otherwise known as a [[walled garden (technology)|walled garden]]). With extraordinary speed Google's [[Android Market]] counting (at the moment) the 2nd largest number of apps and which are running on devices with Android OS. [[HP]] / [[Palm, Inc]] have also created the [[Palm App Catalog]] where [[HP]] / [[Palm, Inc]] [[webOS]] device users can download applications directly from the device or send a link to the application via a unique web distribution method. Recently, mobile operators such as [[Telefonica Group]] and [[Telecom Italia]] have launched [[cross-platform]] application stores for their subscribers. Additionally, mobile phone manufacturers such as [[Nokia]] has launched [[Ovi (Nokia)|Ovi]] app store for Nokia smartphones.
[[List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices|Several initiatives]] exist both from mobile vendor and mobile operators around the world. Application developers<ref>http://www.tkxel.com/iphone</ref> can propose and publish their applications on the [[List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices|stores]], being rewarded by a revenue sharing of the selling price. Most famous is Apple's [[App Store (iOS)|App Store]], where only approved applications may be distributed and run on iOS devices (otherwise known as a [[walled garden (technology)|walled garden]]). With extraordinary speed Google's [[Android Market]] counting (at the moment) the 2nd largest number of apps and which are running on devices with Android OS. [[HP]] / [[Palm, Inc]] have also created the [[Palm App Catalog]] where [[HP]] / [[Palm, Inc]] [[webOS]] device users can download applications directly from the device or send a link to the application via a unique web distribution method. Recently, mobile operators such as [[Telefonica Group]] and [[Telecom Italia]] have launched [[cross-platform]] application stores for their subscribers. Additionally, mobile phone manufacturers such as [[Nokia]] has launched [[Ovi (Nokia)|Ovi]] app store for Nokia smartphones.


==Patents==
==Patents==

Revision as of 06:46, 28 May 2012

Mobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications are either pre-installed on phones during manufacture, downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms, or web applications delivered over HTTP which use server-side or client-side processing (e.g. JavaScript) to provide an "application-like" experience within a Web browser.

Execution environments

Android, iOS, BlackBerry, HP webOS, Symbian OS, Bada from Samsung, and Windows Mobile support typical application binaries as found on personal computers with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor (the ARM architecture is a dominant design used on many current models). Windows Mobile can also be compiled to x86 executables for debugging on a PC without a processor emulator, and also supports the Portable Executable (PE) format associated with the .NET Framework. Windows Mobile, Android, HP webOS and iOS offer free SDKs and integrated development environments to developers.

Platform development environment

Each of the platforms for mobile applications also has an integrated development environment which provides tools to allow a developer to write, test and deploy applications into the target platform environment.

The following table summarizes the elements in each of the development environments.

Programming language Debuggers available Emulator available Integrated development environment available Cross-platform deployment Installer packaging options Development tool cost
Adobe AIR Action Script, HTML, CSS, JavaScript Yes Yes Flash Builder, Flash Professional, IntelliJ IDEA iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Android, BlackBerry The native distribution format of each platform Flash Builder, Flash Professional, IntelliJ IDEA - Commercial licenses available Adobe AIR SDK (command line tool) - Free
Airplay SDK (now Marmalade) C, C++ Yes Yes Visual Studio, XCode All native: Android, BlackBerry, BREW, iOS (iPhone), Maemo, Palm/webOS, Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile 6.x and desktop, OSX The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
CodenameOne Java Yes Yes Netbeans, Eclipse iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Android, BlackBerry, WIN7, J2ME The native distribution format of each platform Free and Open Source + paid cloud services
alcheMo Java Debugger integrated in Visual Studio, Eclipse or XCode Emulator is available in corresponding IDE Visual Studio, Eclipse, XCode Android, BREW, iOS (iPhone), Windows Mobile The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
Android Java but portions of code can be in C, C++ Debugger integrated in Eclipse, standalone debugging monitor available Yes Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, Project Kenai Android plugin for NetBeans Android only, because of Dalvik VM, March 2009 apk Free, IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition - Free
AppFurnace JavaScript Yes Yes, emulate within web IDE and test live on device. Cloud Based IDE Android and iOS The native distribution format of each platform Free to use, test and demo. Costs to publish an app.
Application Craft JavaScript, HTML5, CSS Yes Yes, Emulator used is Ripple Cloud Based IDE All platforms: Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Bada, WebOS, Symbian. Mobile, Desktop and Tablet Cloud/ browser based Free and Open Source
Appcelerator JavaScript Yes, in Titanium Studio, currently in beta. Emulator is available using 3rd party tools Internal SDK Android, iPhone; BlackBerry planned The native distribution format of each platform Apache 2.0 license, commercial licenses available
Appception HTML5, CSS, JavaScript Yes Yes Cloud-based IDE Android, iOS The native distribution format of each platform Free and Commercial licenses available
appMobi HTML5 (JavaScript, CSS3, HTML5) Yes, XDK (Google Chrome App Store) Yes, In XDK Integrates with developer's preferred tool (VS, Notepad ++, VI) iOS, Android, HTML5 Web Apps, HTML5 Hybrid Apps The native distribution format of each platform No Charge
Aqua C, C++, JavaScript Yes Yes Visual Studio, XCode, Eclipse Android, BlackBerry Playbook, iOS, Palm/webOS, Samsung bada, Windows Mobile 6.x, Windows Desktop The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
Basic4android Visual Basic Yes Yes Yes Android apk Commercial licenses available
BatteryTech C, C++ Yes Native Platform Emulators (iOS, Android...) Eclipse, Visual Studio, XCode Android, iOS (iPhone), Windows, OSX The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
Bedrock (now webMethods Mobile Designer) Java Yes Yes Eclipse Java ME, Android, BREW, BlackBerry, Nintendo DS, iOS (iPhone/iPad), Palm/webOS, Sony PSP, Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Windows Phone 7, Windows Desktop, OSX The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
BlackBerry Java Debugger integrated in IDE Yes Eclipse BlackBerry only, because of RIM API alx, cod Free
Blueprint XML routed through Yahoo Mobile servers and displayed in native browsers None beyond a schema check N/A, translates to web or mobile as needed N/A, any XML editor N/A, translates to web or mobile as needed Combined config upload at Yahoo with self-hosted dynamic XML Any XML editor
BREW C; the APIs are provided in C with a C++ style interface Debugger support for the native ARM target code.Can use Visual Studio to debug the x86 testing code No Emulator for the target ARM code, has a simulator for the x86 testing code Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio 2003 .NET, Visual Studio 2005 Compile for the specific BREW version available on the handset OTA Related dev fees typically needed for Brew App Certification - VeriSign annual fee for becoming a certified developer. Realview ARM compiler for BREW (the free GNU C/C++ is available, but with limited function and support). TRUE BREW testing fee for distributing the application.
Brightcove App Cloud JavaScript, HTML, CSS Yes any Web development debuggers Yes, both online emulator and Brightcove App Cloud Workshop native emulator. Any IDE Android and iOS smartphones and tablets, Amazon App Store The native distribution format of each platform Free to use, test and demo. Costs to publish an app.
Canappi mdsl, easy to learn programming language dedicated to mobile solutions, from which iOS, Android, ... code is generated Native Platform Debuggers (iOS, Android...) Native Platform Emulators (iOS, Android...) Eclipse, with mdsl plugin, Apple Interface Builder and Balsamiq for graphical UI design iOS, Android. Design tools like Interface Builder can be used in a cross-platform way. You create your GUI once in Interface Builder you generate code for all platform, all resolutions from a single file. Native deployment for each platform Free & commercial licenses available
CellSDK C# Yes Yes Visual Studio and MonoDevelop Android, iOS and Windows Phone The native distribution format of the platform Free and commercial licenses available
Celsius Java Yes Yes Eclipse Java ME, Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile The native distribution format of each platform of a Java binary Commercial licenses available
CloudPact HTML, CSS, JavaScript Yes Yes Web based IDE both on Cloud and as downloadable version Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile OTA deployment or the native distribution format of each platform Free limited trial and Enterprise plans available
CoStore Web-based drag-and-drop N/A Yes Web-based app builder iOS, Android, HTML5 Native deployment for each platform or web-based Free unlimited trial; commercial licenses available for deployment
Corona SDK Lua Yes Yes Xcode iOS, Android, NOOK Color Native deployment for each platform Free unlimited trial; commercial licenses available for deployment
CrossMobs C, C++ Yes Native emulator or OTA testing Visual Studio, Xcode iOS, Android Native Over-The-Air deployment. Free beta
DragonRAD Visual drag & drop tiles Yes Uses 3rd party emulators Proprietary IDE Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile OTA deployment Free & commercial licenses available
FeedHenry HTML, CSS, JavaScript Yes Yes Studio includes full IDE and Eclipse Plug-in Apple iPhone & iPad, Android, Windows Phone 7, Blackberry, Nokia WRT. The native distribution format of each platform Free, Professional and Enterprise Plans available
Frozen Digit (Custom Mobile application developer (Uses proprietary tools and techniques) iOS, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry Yes Yes, utilizes Native Platform Emulators( iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile/Phone 7) Netbeans, Eclipse-based Yes. Design and Develop full OS-native, hybrid applications. Includes Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Java ME/ J2ME, Windows Phone 7. Mobile web browser support (WML through to device-optimized HTML5) The native distribution format of each platform Related dev fees applicable
GeneXus for Mobile and Smart Devices Knowledge Representation and Declarative Modeling for easy development, then code is automatically generated for each platform No Publish in the Cloud, test native in the device (No emulator required) Proprietary IDE Android, Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad), BlackBerry and even HTML5 if desired The native distribution format of each platform and also Cloud/browser based Free to try, Commercial and Enterprise licenses available
Gideros Mobile Lua No Yes Proprietary IDE iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Android The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
iOS SDK Objective-C Debugger integrated in Xcode IDE Bundled with iPhone SDK, integrated with Xcode IDE Xcode, AppCode iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Only via App Store, needs review and approval by Apple Inc. Apple tools are free for an Intel-based Mac. Simulator testing is free, but installing on a device needs a fee for a developer signing key. AppCode - Commercial licenses available.
iOS SDK Object Pascal Debugger integrated in Xcode IDE Included in Delphi XE2 professional or higher Embarcadero Delphi XE2 iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch Only via App Store, needs review and approval by Apple Inc. Development requires Intel-based Mac besides the IDE on Windows. Design is on Windows, Compilation and deployment has to be done on Mac. Simulator testing is free, but installing on a device needs a fee for a developer signing key
IwGame Engine C/C++ Visual Studio / XCode debuggers Yes, via the Marmalade SDK simulator Visual Studio / XCode [iPhone, iPod and iPad, Android, Bada, Blackberry BBX (Playbook), Symbian, WebOS, Windows Mobile, Mobile Linux, LG-TV, Windows Desktop, Mac OSX] The native distribution format of each platform Engine is free and open source, uses the Marmalade SDK -[1]
Java ME Java Yes Free emulator, Sun Java Wireless Toolkit, mpowerplayer Eclipse, LMA NetBeans Mobility Pack Yes although many VM implementations have device specific bugs necessitating separate builds Jad/Jar packaging; PRC files under Palm OS Free
jeMbe HTML, CSS, js Yes "run" since 1.0.5 to test and debug the app. No real emulator No. iOS, android (on march 2012) The native distribution format of each platform No.
JMango JMango N/A N/A JMango Flash IDE Java ME, Android, Bada, BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile 6, Windows Phone 7 The native distribution format of each platform Free
July Systems Mi™ Platform Java, HTML, Groovy, FreeMarker, Java Script Yes Yes IDE – Eclipse with GUI Editor iOS, Android, Blackberry, WP7, Mobile Web, HTML5, QT Native distribution format for each platform Commercial licenses available
Kony Graphical Drag and Drop Yes Yes, utilizes Native Platform Emulators( iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7) Eclipse-based Yes. Support for full OS-native, hybrid, and wrapper applications. Includes Android, BlackBerry, iOS, Java ME, Palm/webOS, Symbian, Windows Phone 7. Mobile web browser support (WML through to device-optimized HTML5) The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
Lazarus Object Pascal Yes, can debug in IDE via ActiveSync for Windows CE Uses the emulators of the platforms Lazarus IDE, including integrated GUI designer and debugger Compiled language available for Windows CE, Linux-based devices, SymbianOS port in development The native distribution format of each platform Free
LocalClick Partners Graphical Drag and Drop, HTML, CSS Yes Yes Cloud-based IDE iOS, Android, HTML5 Web Apps, HTML5 Hybrid Apps Native Over-The-Air deployment. Free & commercial licenses available. White-label & turnkey mobile app business opportunity
Macromedia Flash Lite ActionScript Yes Bundled with IDE Macromedia Flash MX2004/8, Eclipse Yes SIS / CAB deployment or OTA/IR/Bluetooth SWF files Varies, free but limited with MTASC
Microbrowser based XHTML (WAP 2.0), WML (WAP 1.2) Yes Many Many Basic page rendering with per page customizations for different browsers N/A Free
Meme IDE MemeScript Validation is provided in the problems view Yes, Android emulator can be integrated Eclipse RCP Android, Windows Mobile The native distribution format if each platform Free for development
MobileNationHQ Visual paradigm/javascript N/A N/A instant cloud-based deployment Integrated SaaS environment Android, iPhone N/A Free and Commercial licenses available
Moscrif JavaScript N/A Bundled with Moscrif SDK Internal SDK (Mono based) All native: Android, iOS (iPhone), Samsung bada, Symbian, Windows Mobile The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
Mono for Android C# Yes Yes Visual Studio 2005 and MonoDevelop Android The native distribution format of the platform
MonoTouch C# Yes Yes Visual Studio 2005 and MonoDevelop iOS The native distribution format of the platform
MoSync C, C++, Lua, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript Yes Yes Eclipse, Visual Studio 2005 and later, MoBuild w/ text editors Android, Java ME, Moblin, iOS (iPhone), Smartphone 2003, Symbian, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC), Blackberry (experimental) SIS, CAB, JAD, JAR, APK, OTA deployment Free, GPL 2.0, Free Indie Subscription; commercial subscription available
Toura Mulberry HTML5, CSS, JavaScript Yes No, 3rd party tools No, 3rd party tools Android, iOS, Mobile Web The native distribution format of each platform, OTA deployment, Free
NeoMAD Java Yes Uses 3rd party emulators Eclipse and Netbeans plugin Java ME, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7, iOS (iPhone) and Samsung bada coming soon The native distribution format of each platform Commercial licenses available
.NET Compact Framework C#, VB.NET, Basic4ppc Yes Free emulator, source code available, also bundled with IDE Visual Studio 2008, 2005, 2003, Basic4ppc IDE Windows Mobile, Windows CE, Symbian-based devices via third party tools OTA deployment, CAB files, ActiveSync Most tools free, but commercial editions of Visual Studio needed for visual designers
NS BASIC/App Studio Visual Basic Yes No, Test in Chrome or Safari Browser Proprietary IDE iPhone, iPad, iPad Touch, Android 2.1+ Java Web App or native deployment using Phonegap Evaluation Version & Commercial Licenses available
OpenPlug ActionScript, XML Yes Yes OpenPlug ELIPS plugin for Adobe Flash Builder Android, iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), Symbian, Windows Mobile The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
Palm OS C, C++, Pascal Yes OS 1.0 - 4.1: Free Emulator provided by PalmSource (Access); OS 5.0: - 5.4 Device-specific Simulators provided by Palm (palmOne) Palm OS Development System (Eclipse), CodeWarrior, PocketStudio, HB++, Satellite Forms Palm OS handhelds, or Windows Mobile with StyleTap emulator PRC files, PalmSource Installer (.psi) Free (POSE or GCC for Palm OS), or commercial (CodeWarrior), or various commercial rapid-development frameworks
Particle SDK Java, ActionScript Yes Yes Eclipse plugin with GUI editor Android, BlackBerry, iOS, webOS, and Windows Phone 7 mobile devices plus Flash, HTML5 web apps The native distribution format of each platform Currently in free beta. Commercial license will be available.
PhoneGap HTML, CSS, JavaScript Yes No, 3rd party tools No, 3rd party tools iPhone, Android, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, Symbian, Palm The native distribution format of each platform MIT license
Python Python Yes Add-on to Nokia Emulator Several, including plugins for Eclipse Interpreted language available natively only on Nokia Series60 (and desktops) though ports exist to other mobile platforms, including PalmOS Sis deployment with py2sis or can use Python Runtime Free
Qt SDK C++, QML Yes Yes Qt Creator Symbian platform, Maemo, MeeGo, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
RareWire - App Creation Studio XML Yes Free emulator. Download and install on device. Cloud Based IDE iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod touch), Android (coming soon) The native distribution format of each platform Free to use, test and demo. Costs to publish an app.
Resco MobileForms Toolkit C# Yes Yes Visual Studio Windows Mobile (Pocket PC), Windows CE, Android, iOS, Smartphone The native distribution format of each platform Free & commercial licenses available
Rhomobile Ruby with HTML interface features compiled through an interpreter into native applications. Yes N/A, applications can run in Win32 runner, or in device emulators for supported platforms. xCode or Eclipse, on-demand RhoHub version includes full IDE Yes, supports iOS (incl. 3.0) on iPhone and iPad, Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, Mobile Windows 6.0 Standard, BlackBerry 4.6, 4.7, 5.0, 6.0 (BlackBerry 4.2 and 4.5 supported but database access is very slow on these devices), Symbian and Android 1.6 and higher OTA deployment, iOS through App store, .SIS, .CAB, .APK, .COD Rhodes is free and open source under the MIT License, RhoSync is under GPL or commercial, Commercial support available. Subscription for RhoHub
Smartface Platform Drag-and-drop tools and action editing No, not needed Yes Smartface Designer Yes: Android, BlackBerry, J2ME, Symbian S60 The native distribution format of each platform Community licenses available
Stencyl Drag and drop editor based on MIT Scratch, Objective-C Yes Yes Xcode iOS (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch) The native distribution format of each platform. Free and commercial development licenses.
Symbian C++ Yes Free Emulator Many choices Compile per target SIS deployment Commercial and free tools available
Tiggzi Mobile App Builder Web-based, visual editor, HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, jQuery Mobile, PhoneGap Yes, in special debug window No need, test right in browser or device Web-based, can also export to Eclipse or Maven project Mobile Web (HTML/JS/CSS), iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 The native distribution format of each platform or mobile Web (HTML/JS/CSS) Free and paid monthly subscriptions for development, hosting options available
TotalCross Java Yes Yes Eclipse, TKN Mobile Studio for TotalCross Android, BlackBerry, iOS (iPhone, iPad), Palm OS, Windows Mobile. Windows Phone 7, Symbian planned The native distribution format of each platform (cab, jad, apk, pdb/prc, deb) SDK is open source and free for desktop development. VM for target devices must be licensed
Unity C#, JavaScript, Boo, other .NET-based languages Yes Remote used to simulate device interaction before app is uploaded to the device. Unity Editor, also works with Visual Studios and MonoDevelop. Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad), PC, Mac, desktop browser, XBOX360, PS3, Wii. BlackBerry Playbook, Nokia Symbian, Roku 2 and others available through company's Union program. The native distribution format of each platform. Free and commercial development licenses.
ViziApps WYSIWYG, Graphical Drag and Drop N/A Test right in browser or device Online design studio Android and iOS devices, Windows Phone 7 planned N/A Free to design, test and demo app. Costs to publish an app. Free to update apps.
WebORB Integration Server C#, VB.NET, Java, PHP, ActionScript, JavaScript, Objective-C, XML Yes Uses emulator for corresponding mobile SDKs Works with Eclipse, Visual Studio, intelliJ IDEA and Amethyst IDE Android, iOS (iPhone/iPad), BlackBerry Playbook, Windows Phone7 The native distribution format of each platform Free development licenses; Free and Commercial deployment licenses
webOS JavaScript, CSS, HTML, C and C++ through the PDK Yes Free emulator Eclipse webOS, Palm only OTA deployment, webOS through App store, Web URL, Precentral, .ipk Free
WinDev Mobile WLanguage Yes Yes WinDev Mobile, Android DSK Android, Windows Mobile OTA deployment, apk, CAB files, ActiveSync Commercial licenses available
Windows Mobile C, C++ Yes Free emulator (source code available), also bundled with IDE Visual Studio 2010, 2008, 2005, eMbedded VC++ (free), Satellite Forms Windows Mobile, Windows FU, Windows CE OTA deployment, CAB files, ActiveSync Free command-line tools or eMbedded VC++, or Visual Studio (Standard edition or better)
Windows Phone C#, Visual Basic Yes Free emulator, also bundled with IDE Visual Studio 2010 Windows Phone OTA deployment, XAP files
IBM Worklight Choice of standard HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, native languages or a combination of both Yes Bundled with the IDE as well as device SDK integration Eclipse-based plug-in Yes, supports Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone 7, as well as modern mobile browsers for web apps The native distribution format of each platform Free evaluation version, commercial licenses available
Fivespark Web-based point and click N/A Preview in desktop browser Web-based app builder Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows Phone 7 plus other modern mobile browsers HTML5 OTA Free for development
mobileFX Studio 7 J2me, Java, HTML5, JavaScript Yes, WTK for J2me, Integration with Chrome V8 Debugger for JavaScript Yes, WTK and BlackBerry SDK for J2me, WebKit Browsers, iPhone, iPad and Android devices for HTML5/JavaScript mobileFX Studio 7 (Windows XP, Windows 7) PhoneGap platforms and native compilers for J2me (BlackBerry, NOKIA S40/S60, SE JP7/8, Motorola, Samsung, LG, etc.) OTA (SMS), Bluetooth (OBEX), OTA (Hosting), QRCode-to-mobile Free

Mobile application testing

Mobile applications are first tested within the development environment using emulators and later subjected to field testing. Emulators provide an inexpensive way to test applications on mobile phones to which developers may not have physical access. The following are examples of tools used for testing application across the most popular mobile operating systems.

  • Google Android Emulator[2]

It is Android Emulator which is patched to run on a Windows PC as a standalone app without having to download and install the complete and complex Android SDK, and can be even installed and Android compatible apps can be tested on it.

  • Official Android SDK Emulator[3]

It includes a mobile device emulator which mimics all of the hardware and software features of a typical mobile device (without the calls).

MobiOne Developer is a mobile Web IDE for Windows that helps developers to code, test, debug, package and deploy mobile Web applications to devices such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and the Palm Pre.

It is a web browser based simulator for quickly testing iPhone web applications. This tool has been tested and works using Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 and Safari 3.

It gives a pixel-accurate web browsing environment and it is powered by Safari. It can be used while developing web sites for the iPhone. It is not an iPhone simulator but instead is designed for web developers who want to create 320 by 480 (or 480 by 320) websites for use with iPhone.iPhoney will only run on Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later.

  • BlackBerry Simulator[7]

There are a variety of official BlackBerry simulators available to emulate the functionality of actual BlackBerry products and test how the BlackBerry device software, screen, keyboard and trackwheel will work with application.

Tools

  • elusivestars.com: This is a crowdsourced service for Android and iPhone applications, offering application testing by real users with real devices.
  • FoneMonkey: This is a free Mobile Application Testing tool for iPhone applications[8]
  • eggPlant: A GUI based automated test tool for mobile application across all operating systems and devices.
  • Robotium: This is an automation tool for Android Mobile Application[9]
  • Sikuli: This is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images.
  • Deviceanywhere: This is an automation tool for Mobile Application across all platforms, all devices.[10]
  • MITE: A Mobile content testing and validation tool for Mobile Web application.[11]
  • Monkey Runner: A Mobile application testing tool for Android.
  • ZAP-fiX: enhances test automation by allowing enterprise testing of mobile applications. It provides modular test coverage across multiple operating systems and supports testing on multiple devices simultaneously. Supported platforms are iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry, webOS and Windows Mobile. [12]
  • Appsbar: An online service for building and publishing apps for iPhone, Android and HTML5 devices.

Application stores

Several initiatives exist both from mobile vendor and mobile operators around the world. Application developers[13] can propose and publish their applications on the stores, being rewarded by a revenue sharing of the selling price. Most famous is Apple's App Store, where only approved applications may be distributed and run on iOS devices (otherwise known as a walled garden). With extraordinary speed Google's Android Market counting (at the moment) the 2nd largest number of apps and which are running on devices with Android OS. HP / Palm, Inc have also created the Palm App Catalog where HP / Palm, Inc webOS device users can download applications directly from the device or send a link to the application via a unique web distribution method. Recently, mobile operators such as Telefonica Group and Telecom Italia have launched cross-platform application stores for their subscribers. Additionally, mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia has launched Ovi app store for Nokia smartphones.

Patents

There are many patents applications pending for new mobile phone apps. Most of these are in the technological fields of Business methods, Database management, Data transfer and Operator interface.[14]

Patent enforcement

Main article: Lodsys

On May 31, 2011, Lodsys asserted two of its four patents: U.S. Patent No. 7,620,565 ("the '565 patent") on a "customer-based design module" and U.S. Patent No. 7,222,078 ("the '078 patent") on "Methods and Systems for Gathering Information from Units of a Commodity Across a Network." against the following application developers:[15]

  • Combay
  • Iconfactory
  • Illusion Labs
  • Shovelmate
  • Quickoffice
  • Richard Shinderman of Brooklyn, New York
  • Wulven Game Studios of Hanoi, Vietnam

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mobile phones.
  1. ^ Mobile Game and App Programming Tutorials | DrMop
  2. ^ Download Google Android Emulator
  3. ^ Android Emulator | Android Developers
  4. ^ http://www.genuitec.com/mobile/
  5. ^ http://www.testiphone.com/
  6. ^ Marketcircle | iPhoney
  7. ^ BlackBerry
  8. ^ » FoneMonkey:Free Mobile Application Testing tool for iphone apps Mobile Application Testing
  9. ^ » Robotium : Automation tool for Android Mobile Application Mobile Application Testing
  10. ^ Keynote DeviceAnywhere - Mobile App Testing and Lifecycle Management
  11. ^ » MITE (Mobile Interactive Testing Enviornment) Mobile Application Testing
  12. ^ ZAP-fiX: Test Automation and Monitoring for Mobile Applications for iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry and WebOS with HP QuickTest Professional, Quality Center, LoadRunner and APM
  13. ^ http://www.tkxel.com/iphone
  14. ^ Nowotarski et al, “Increasing Allowance Rates by Selectively Targeting Patent Class” IPwatchdog, April 6, 2011
  15. ^ Florian Meuller, “Lodsys sues 7 app developers in Eastern Texas, disagrees with Apple; Android also targeted”, FOSS Patents blog, May 31, 2011

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