Appcelerator’s Titanium Tablet: Opening the Gates for a Flood of New iPad Apps?
April 6, 2010 - By Justin E. Gehrke
On April 3, 2010, Apple kicked off the sale of its latest offering, the Apple iPad. With initial reports showing more than 300,000 units sold in the first two days, the race is on for developers to redesign existing iPhone and iPod Touch apps to ensure they run natively on the newest gadget. Additionally, users are already clamoring for new Apps to satisfy their unquenchable thirst for the newest, coolest games, utilities, and more.
Yesterday, Appcelerator, one of the most popular platforms for native mobile and desktop apps, announced the debut of a new SDK, designed for iPad application development. Known as the Titanium Tablet SDK, it holds the acclaim of being the first tool to allow iPad developers to create native applications, to include interfaces and direct access to the newly released Apple device. Touting the ability to reduce the development process by 80%, Appcelerator hopes to quickly stake their claim in the unfolding iPad app market.
Appcelerator Titanium is a trademark of Appcelerator, Inc.
Traditionally, mobile application developers were forced to use Objective-C, as their primary tool for development. According to the company, Titanium Tablet rapidly accelerates the overall development process. To make things even more attractive, Appcelerator offers the software as a free download, under the terms of the Apache 2 open source license.
In the official press release, the company’s CEO, Jeff Haynie, states, “Appcelerator is synonymous with native application development. Our customers place a premium on delivering applications with native performance, native user interface design, and native access to the underlying device capabilities. We’re pleased to enable our 35,000 web developers to build native iPad applications with the full complement of Apple’s iPad capabilities.”¹
Apple iPhone and iPad users regularly see the difference between native and non-native apps, in the way they function and are viewed. Native applications typically take full advantage of the device’s ability to shift between portrait and landscape views. Those that are non-native, do not. Additionally, the type of development used is often seen in the app’s interface controls, in-app views, and external integration with other apps.
JavaScript-saavy developers, with a previous version of Titanium, can download the upgrade effective immediately. Additionally, subscribers to the company’s Titanium Professional and Enterprise programs will also have iPad support added to their premium support services.
While the technical aspects of this news may not mean much to the average iPad user, the prospective benefits will be reaped directly by them. With the release of the Titanium Tablet SDK, it is only a matter of time before the number of native-iPad submissions to Apple’s App Store begins to increase exponentially. This means better, faster, and cooler apps will soon be on the way. Ultimately, the development is a potential win for Apple, as well, since more apps, with native functionality, will only make the device more attractive to consumers.
Source¹: PRWeb – Appcelerator Launches Native iPad Development for its 35,000 Developers
