Application platform software specialist WaveMaker announced the availability of Hybrid Mobile App Development as part of its Rapid Application Development (RAD) platform.
With this zero-code solution, enterprises write once, and WaveMaker automatically generates a desktop, Google Android and Apple iOS app that conforms to platform standards, and can also leverage device capabilities such as camera, geo-location, network and local file storage.
Hybrid MRAD is particularly useful for applications including business productivity apps, enabling employees to use those apps on a variety of platforms, versions, and devices as well as internal apps that automate company business processes, harnessing device capabilities and enabling remote use of API services and media apps.
“Native apps development is expensive. Constant changes, upgrades to Android and iOS and deprecation of APIs makes it very complex and expensive for companies to keep up with,” WaveMaker CEO Vijay Pullur told eWEEK. “WaveMaker takes this complexity away. We automatically generate hybrid mobile apps for anything built using WaveMaker. The apps generated not only comply with corporate UI standards but also strictly adhere to Android and iOS UI guidelines. This makes WaveMaker generated apps look professional and with a native look and feel.”
Pullur explained some hurdles businesses face when mobilizing applications include multiple user interface (UI) standards; such as tablets, screen resolutions and form factors; constantly changing phone operating system (OS) versions; a scarcity of developers who can hand code apps that address all these complexities, and the cost of developing and maintenance of apps.
WaveMaker’s hybrid mobile app development extension delivers many features for adding mobile capabilities to existing apps, such as mobile-ready widgets that enable touch gestures like swipe, tap, and pinch and support for various screen resolutions and multiple pixel density needed for good UI on smartphones.
The platform also provides the technology for mobile widgets that can access device capabilities such as camera, geo-location, network, and local file storage without the need to write code. It also provides single-click build cross-platform installer capability that reduces the complexity in understanding build systems and the various tools/SDKs provided by Android, iOS and other platforms.
In addition, mobile-ready page templates provide a starting point for most common UI capabilities, reducing the need for UI designers for every app project.
“We strongly believe hybrid apps are the way to go for enterprises,” Pullur said. “It provides native UI feel without the complexity. Rapid application development tools like WaveMaker are important for enterprises to adopt mobility rapidly and at scale.”