Should mobile developers build native apps, mobile Web apps, or some sort of combination of the two? In a new report, Forrester says that while the answer is complicated, a hybrid approach may be the most cost effective.
“As firms move from two to three platforms and even contemplate adding Windows Phone 7, they will find that native development becomes increasingly untenable from an economic point of view. Add in multiple releases a year as the mobile platform vendors update their operating systems, and most shops simply aren’t prepared to spend that much more on their custom application development efforts,” Forrester writes.
Instead, the firm recommends a mobile development approach that begins with an HTML5-based Web app. From there, developers can use a tool like PhoneGap to give their apps native-like capabilities.
