Soon more web apps with native app-like capabilities may flood the market if AppMobi, which creates development tools for HTML5, has its way.
AppMobi has made its key HTML5 development technologies open source. These technologies will help developers build web-apps with capabilities similar to native apps (apps that you download to your device).
Web apps open in a Browser and hence are universally accessible from various devices unlike a native App which can only be accessed if it is built for that particular system.
AppMobi has released the source code of its “mobiUs” browser, which allows HTML5 web apps to perform identically to native apps. AppMobi uses “DirectCanvas” technology, which accelerates HTML5 canvas rendering, physics calculations and sound by as much as 1500 per cent, providing native performance to HTML5-based games.
While the browser is already available for iOS devices, an Android version will arrive in the first three months of 2012.
The mobiUs browser lets web apps access all of the hardware features of your smartphone. With this browser, web apps will work as native apps, hence you can access them whether you have an internet connection or not.
The browser will also offer improved game performance, and instant push notifications from apps or other users. AppMobi has also included a built in ‘1Touch’ wallet for online purchases.
“We believe in the open web and the importance of an open environment for mobile apps and services,” said AppMobi’s chief technology officer, Sam Abadir. “To help advance the industry’s move from native apps to web-based apps, we are sharing our mobile HTML5 knowledge with the global software development community.”
He added, “Among other benefits, the innovations in this open source release will improve the mobile web experience through faster downloads, better offline usage and dramatic HTML5 game performance increases. An improved HTML5 user experience is the ‘rising tide that lifts all ships’ for open web mobile developers, and we are happy to pour our technology into that harbor.”
AppMobi has also released the open source code of iOS XCode and Android Eclipse projects which will be of particular benefit to developers who want to extend existing native apps with HTML5 tabs or views. For example, a developer can easily add a photo sharing feature to a native app by mixing AppMobi’s enhanced PhoneGap with Facebook JavaScript APIs.
The company has also released JavaScript Bridge API which provides a cross platform JavaScript bridge that allows web sites and web apps to access device APIs on iOS and Android platforms. Developers who wish to download the source code can visit AppMobi’s website.