Pushing Web Technology

 

Perhaps the most recent example of a major player pushing Web technology as the way to go for mobile development is Mozilla, which on Feb. 23 announced that the Mozilla Marketplace would open for developers to submit Web apps at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. By building on open-Web technologies like HTML5 and Mozilla-proposed APIs, the Mozilla Marketplace will enable developers to write one app that runs across devices and platforms. As part of its mission to keep the Web open and put people in control of their Web experience, Mozilla is enabling users to buy apps once and use them on any HTML5-enabled device.

"We are enabling the Web to be the marketplace, giving developers the opportunity to play on the biggest playing field imaginable," said Todd Simpson, Mozilla's chief of innovation, in a statement. "By building the missing pieces, Mozilla is now unlocking the potential of the Web to be the platform for creating and consuming content everywhere."

In addition, Mozilla indicated it is working on a smartphone that will run apps on the phone's browser. These smartphone plans are tied to the company's "Boot to Gecko" project, which is an effort to create a Web-based mobile operating system. Mozilla's plans would mean that developers adept in standard Web technologies such as JavaScript and HTML5 would be equipped to build apps for the Mozilla phone.

However, regarding Mozilla's plans, Forrester's Hammond said, "They are competing for airtime in a very busy market; I'm not sure how successful they will be in getting it."

Yet, "With Mozilla's mobile OS moving forward, it reaffirms that the best option for developers is to have a vast array of choice, from purely native to hybrid Web/native to pure Web solutions," SitePen's Schiemann said. "With this variety, developers will need to sort through those choices and decide what will help them most effectively deliver high-quality apps and sites for their users that will be manageable now and sustainable over time."