One of the advantages iOS had over Android for years was its app selection. The iOS App Store was considered vastly superior to the then Android Market, but over the last year or so, the everything has slowly started to even out and according to a new report, we’ll see more of this over the nest few years.
According to a new report from Gartner, “more than 50 percent of mobile apps deployed by 2016 will be hybrid.” By hybrid, Gartner means that apps will be able to run on nearly every operating system available, including Windows Phone, BlackBerry 10, Android, and iOS. This has already started to happen, as many companies now allow employees to choose what smartphone to carry, since the majority of business apps are cross-platform and offer solid security.
Gartner says that most hybrid apps will be based off of HTML5 paired with the use of each operating system’s native container, which as noted before, will allow the app to run on a plethora of devices. The native container means that the app will be able to access device or operating system specific features, such as the GPS or the notification system.
Gartner says their advice to developers “would be to assume the enterprise will have to manage a large and diverse set of mobile applications that will span all major architectures. Enterprises should consider how applications can be enriched or improved by the addition of native device capabilities and evaluate development frameworks that offer the ability to develop native, hybrid and Web applications using the same code base.” Essentially, the research firm recommends that developers build for cross-platforms at all costs.
Gartner also predicts that by 2014, Apple will be just as accepted in the enterprise market as Microsoft is today. iOS has continued to see adoption in the work place, as have Macs. Microsoft definitely did not please many companies when it completely changed the look of Windows with Windows 8. Finally, the report suggests that the first $50 smartphone will begin to appear in emerging countries sometime this year and with enough adoption, may force some big-name manufacturers to re-evaluate their budget offerings.
More hybrid apps are certainly something to get excited about, especially with apps also being able to access device specific features.
Source: Gartner