Mobile Development - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

  • C# wins developers, but Java still reigns

    Microsoft's C# language appears set to overtake C++ in regard to its popularity with developers, a monthly survey of programming languages finds. But the language could be held back because C++ is better for mobile application development, an official in charge of the survey said.

  • Survey: Developers eager for Kindle Fire

    <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/amazon-unveils-kindle-fire-its-entry-the-tablet-fray-174240">Amazon.com's Kindle Fire</a> tablet, which is slated to ship tomorrow, is attracting plenty of early interest from developers, based on a survey of more than 2,000 developers conducted early this month.

  • Touch-oriented apps: A developer's guide

    It's no secret that more and more people are opting for touch-based smartphones and tablets as their computers of choice: iPads, iPhones, Androids, now BlackBerrys, and soon <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/watch-out-apple-windows-8-could-trump-the-ipad-172971">Windows 8 PCs and tablets</a>. For developers, touch-based systems means grasping a whole new set of guidelines, including understanding their audience's new context and careful interface design, say prominent developers in the touch space.

  • Android 4: Developers praise the new UI and APIs

    Early returns on the <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/google-unveils-whats-new-in-android-4-ice-cream-sandwich-176549">Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich"</a> software development kit have developers praising the unified perspective and capabilities of the Google mobile OS -- but their ability to test new apps is constrained by the lack of Android 4 devices, which also limits the market for apps that use the new OS.

  • Canonical's Ubuntu Linux will battle for mobile developers

    Canonical, which has great ambitions to extend its <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/canonical-expand-ubuntu-linux-smartphones-tablets-177523">Ubuntu Linux</a> to such devices as smartphones and tablets, is prepared to reach out to developers to get them to build the applications necessary to make the platform successful. But the company will have its work cut out for it, given that established providers on the market have a substantial head start.

  • Oracle: Mobile app developers must factor in security, network efficiency

    Developers <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/application-development/mobile-development-101-what-you-need-know-683-0">building applications for the growing number of mobile devices</a> must make security and reduced network bandwidth consumption top priorities, based on what <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/category/tags/oracle">Oracle</a> has found in a recent survey of device users. In its second annual survey of more than 3,000 mobile device users worldwide, Oracle reveals a number of expected findings, including increases in mobile broadband data usage, acceptance of mobile banking and shopping, and willingness to share location. But just 32 percent of respondents believe the information on their devices is secure.

  • RIM delays BlackBerry tablet OS to February 2012

    Last week at its BlackBerry DevCon conference, Research in Motion tried to excite developers about the forthcoming PlayBook OS 2.0 mobile operating system, to spur developers to create applications for RIM's BlackbBerry PlayBook tablet, released last spring to poor reviews and low sales. But yesterday, RIM said in a blog post that it was delaying the release of the PlayBook 2.0 OS "until we are confident we have fully met the expectations of our developers, enterprise customers, and users."

  • JetBrains adds IDE for Apple iOS, Mac OS X development

    Jet Brains says it now enables developers to deliver Xcode-compliant projects to the Apple App Store without ruffling any feathers thanks to its AppCode IDE for Objective-C application development introduced Tuesday.

  • Developers expect much from today's Android 4 upgrade

    Google's <a href="http://www.infoworld.com/d/mobile-technology/google-unify-smartphone-tablet-android-oses-636">Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich"</a> mobile OS release, which is expected to debut this evening, has developers hoping for resolution of longstanding platform fragmentation problems and critical bug fixes.

  • Oracle shows JavaFX on iOS and Android

    Oracle on Tuesday showed JavaFX rich client software running on both an Apple iPad and a Google Android-based Samsung Galaxy tablet, along with introducing a separate project using HTML5 to bring Java to Apple's iOS platform, called Project Avatar.

  • Scala designer cites goals, directions for JVM alternative

    Martin Odersky is the designer of the Scala programming language, a general-purpose statically typed language that runs on the Java Virtual Machine. It can be used to build distributed systems and even Android mobile applications. Odersky is chairman and chief architect at Typesafe, a company offering a Scala-based software stack geared to parallel and distributed computing environments. He also teaches in Switzerland. Scala debuted in 2003 and was redesigned two years later. Recently, Odersky fielded questions about Scala from InfoWorld Editor at Large Paul Krill.

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