Summary
The end-consumer market is ever more hungry for new technologies; causing mobile app development entrepreneurs to derive a better approach for their offerings. The recent introduction of hybrid mobile app development is a topic of interest for everyone related in the IT industry. The article attempts to compare native and hybrid apps development. The underlying idea is to construct the overall preference in the approach for mobile apps development and how the mobile entrepreneurs are embracing the change in this approach.
Insurgence of Hybrid Apps
Mobile application development is no longer restricted to native apps development only. Thanks to the concept of hybrid mobile application development, companies are now able to capture entire consumer market irrespective of their phones and OS platform. 80% of consumer mobile usage is through native apps. With the emergence of HTML5 hybrid app approach, this percentage is only going to get higher. Although limited in capacity, the next generation of hybrid apps promises to change the way we conceptualize mobile application development.
What are The HTML5 Hybrid Apps?
As the name suggests, hybrid apps are the applications that can be run on both iOS and Android platforms. The primary feature of such applications is their extensibility as now consumers don’t have to worry about the limitations associated with the mobile apps they install on their phones.
HTML5 and JavaScript are used extensively used for constructing hybrid applications that are then packaged for installation on various devices via traditional app stores. Hybrid apps can be executed locally on native application packages; making it easier for these apps to access built-in mobile features such as camera, address book, GPRS etc. Typically, a hybrid app consists of an HTML5 web application within a wrapper. The wrapper is a simple native application or a full-screen browser window that points to the HTML document of the web app. When the app starts, the HTML document loads and the web app starts to run in a browser window inside the wrapper app. Because of this reason, the hybrid apps run faster and can even be executed completely offline with a native app.
While considering hybrid mobile application development, you need to critically examine all the technical aspects in its design and development. A breakthrough in recent mobile application development scene, a hybrid app can be published on multiple platforms from a single HTML5 codebase. This is a very cost effective method for producing applications that are developed quicker and also marketed faster to end-consumers.
Where are Mobile Entrepreneurs headed to?
The recent insurgence of hybrid apps is a new tide that many mobile entrepreneurs are attempting to ride. Despite low development costs, accomplished mobile application development companies are still watching this show from the sides as they continuously invest on native apps development. Globally, the mobile app development is heading towards $100 billion mark. Currently, hybrid applications don’t really present a comprehensive user experience to end-consumers. Entrepreneurs wanting to experiment in hybrid app development would really have to work hard in producing “platform-consistent” user interface behavior.
Technologically speaking, the software available for developing native apps is far superior to what is available for hybrid applications. The native app development tools are comprehensive, allowing developers to debug without any uncalled for delays. Because of such shortcomings, mobile entrepreneurs are a little hesitant in trying their hand at hybrid apps development.
Future of Hybrid and Native Apps
Several mobile operating systems such as Tizen and Firefox OS are gaining momentum in the market. This ultimately will cause fragmentation in mobile apps market. Right now, native mobile app development seems to be a favorable choice but eventually the next generation of HTML5 hybrid apps will take over the market. The future of mobile app development now lies in the hands of HTML5 and JavaScript that both combined will ultimately enhance the end-user experience of applications irrespective of the platform. Eventually, the hybrid applications will be richer, smoother and consistent in their UI behavior. In continuous effort for improvement, Appurify and Google’s Angular JS are making noteworthy progress. With other companies also realizing and assisting the advancements, it is only a matter of time when hybrid mobile app development overtakes the popular native app development in the race.
In the long run, the paradigm shift of technologies and approach will allow mobile entrepreneurs to prefer and develop hybrid apps over native apps.
Conclusion
The consumer market is driven on constant evolution of technology. Many companies within the mobile app development market are extending their services and support for developing applications according to the framework of choice. Before developing a mobile app, you should consider your budget, and the type of consumers you are targeting in the market. Hiring a mobile app development company that understands your app needs can be an intelligent move. These companies run a thorough analysis that can be helpful in developing a cost-effective application in promised deadlines. Ultimately, only those entrepreneurs will taste success that have given proper time and thought in developing consistent and enhanced mobile applications in the market.
