Which mobile operating system should I code for? [closed]

Answer 1

With Nokia (Symbian and MeeGo) you can develop in Qt. You should be able to deploy the same app to both systems without to much trouble. With your background as a web dev you can use QtScript\JavaScript etc. to get the desired results.

Answer 2

Below is my personal opinion based on my personal experience.

You are forgetting some of the biggest issues in mobile development (the same that make so many people pick the iPhone in the end). This are particularly important if you are a single developer!

1.Fragmentation

For each platform there are many devices with different screen resolutions, hardware capabilities, memory capacity, bugs etc. Unless you are developing something trivial (why not a mobile web app then?) you'll need to acquire and test on at least the most popular handsets. This also adds support costs to your app. You'll need to test and update it for every new device.

2.Distribution

Everybody is building an App Store these days, but iTunes is still the best and most trusted way to pay for digital content. Android is probably the second runner, but not so popular with business users. I would be careful with Nokia if you care about the American market and with Palm if you care for the international.

Windows 7 Mobile seems like a nice platform, but it will be 6 - 12 months before you should even discuss it. Don't even consider the current Windows Mobile iteration.

3.Tools, Language, SDK, hardware

Blackberry, Android and Nokia are Java based and use Eclipse as an IDE. In theory they should work on any OS, but Android has some issues on Windows, while Blackberry requires Windows. For all 3 you'll need really decent hardware to run the emulators and the IDE without thinking of suicide. On-device debugging is from non-existent to not very nice.

iPhone - ObjectiveC/C/C++. You'll need a Mac running osX. Even a Mini will do. To distribute you need to be on the Developer program - 99$. Everything else is free. XCode is quite a nice IDE and the emulator and the on-device debugging are the best on the market. There are many frameworks to build apps using different technologies like web or flash. Can't comment.

Palm - the closest to what you already know, based on web technologies for high level development. For anything more advanced C++ based SDK (I have no experience with that yet).

Windows Mobile - C#/Windows/Visual Studio. May need to pay for some of the dev tools.

4.Bonus point

iPod Touch & iPad have no counterparts. Have you followed the pre-order frenzy in the last 2 days? Yes I know about the Android tablets, check point 1 above.

Hope this helps, but maybe I just confused you more. In the end you should be most concerned about the quality of your software and the value it provides. If it's good it will find its market.

Answer 3

Note that at the moment you really have only three valid options: Iphone, Android and BlackBerry. If you are not targeting US markets then BlackBerry is a non-option as well.

(Nokia has too many platforms and the devices are with bad UX, Plam is dying, Window Mobile will eventually catch-up but not soon)

If you have a business application your users are most likely using BlackBerry or Iphone (Android is still on the rise).

Developing for either is a matter of market share and you should really check with your users what they are using.

Note that if you are a web developer you should consider taking on with you someone that knows how to develop to those platforms (it is NOT trivial) or even consider writing an HTML5 web-app that would work on Android and IPhone.

Answer 4

Both of my programs are more for business users, (one is only useful for C.P.A.s).

If you have users, ask them what phones they use.

Most users seem to be religious about their mobile decision, so oral conversations leave me more confused then enlightened.

Then don't measure by quality-of-conversation. Measure by raw counts, or raw counts weighted by likely upsell (i.e., long-time users of your apps who have been paying for upgrades and maintenance have a more proven track record of giving you money than would somebody who bought your app yesterday).

Then, once you know what the strongest smartphone platforms are among your users, you can decide how best to tackle one or more of them.

I would need to learn the relevant languages and IDEs - my coding to date has been almost all web based (PHP, JS, Actionscript, etc. Some ASPX).

Then perhaps stick with that. The only reasons you truly need a native app are because you want to run disconnected (and with HTML5, that'll even be covered) or if you want to do things that cannot be accomplished via a mobile Web browser (e.g., integrate with other on-device apps in Android).

Palm WebOS - Perhaps this should go first, as it is the only one that offers tools to make my life easy as a web application developer.

Nonsense. Well, OK, that IDE I saw some screenshots of was pretty slick, if it shipped (I lost track). But it's not like WebOS is the only Web OS.

There are ways to develop local apps for non-WebOS phones that use HTML/CSS/Javascript. PhoneGap is closest to traditional Web apps AFAICT; Appcelerator Titanium Mobile is a little strange but also uses those technologies. Both of those let you target Android and iPhone with one set of source code; PhoneGap also lets you ship to Blackberry and eventually to Symbian.

Now, particularly for PhoneGap, these will have the feel of mobile Web sites more than they will native apps. That may or may not be a big deal for your users. If nothing else, it would let you get you feet wet in mobile and gauge relative interest, then determine if you need to climb the learning curve on Java or Objective-C.

BTW, Maemo is being replaced by Meego, to further your Nokia confusion. :-)