Eight App Building Platforms Help Small Business Connect To The “Cloud”
For business professionals and entrepreneurs, connecting to the vast social media network is a must in today's market. Many choose to develop apps in order to provide more hands-on and one-on-one service and experience to the customers. Below are a list of eight app building platforms that are great for both individuals with a basic developer background and those who are about to build their first app.
- Tiggzi : A cloud-based service by software engineering company Exadel, providing a bridge between the world of drag-and-drop app builders and more complex app developing tools. Tiggzi enable developers to create rich mobile applications that can be deployed on any smartphone or tablet almost instantly. Developers can also easily customize and extend the capabilities of their applications with support for easy integration of REST API services and with enhancements to the built-in JavaScript framework and drag-and-drop visual editor.
- Buzztouch: Users develop the app in Buzztouch, then use a compiler and submit the app on their own to iTunes and Google Play. For that, Buzztouch lets users add content; images; contact information; streaming video and audio; RSS; quizzes; location maps; Excel and Word docs; PDFs; and shares for email, Facebook, and Twitter。
- PhoneGap: One of the most notable features is its “write once” standard, which allows you to develop an application once and not have to worry about tweaking it for different platforms. PhoneGap gives you an app that works in Windows Phone, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, and SymbianOS.
- Branded Business Apps: Has a five-step app development process, which allows for the launch of iPhone, iPad and Android apps in less than 48 hours. The platform was created largely for service industries — restaurants, churches, health clubs and hotels, among others — functionality is limited to a basic set of almost 40 features
- Titanium: Offered by Appcelerator, Titanium is a strong application development environment that doesn’t require any hardcore programming experience. Instead, developers can make apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
- EachScape: Takes a unique building-block approach, which allows it to avoid the use of templates most often responsible for the generic interface of inexpensive apps. EachScape is a drag and drop environment where the user selects ‘blocks’ or components, integrates their content, customizes and is then able to generate apps for iOS, Android and HTML5.
- The AppBuilder: Created by JamPot Technologies, this is a service that offers application templates that help small businesses create native applications for iOS and Android. You can get as simple or as custom as you want. The service automatically submits your application to the iTunes App Store, Google Play market or Windows Phone Marketplace.
- AppExpress: A do-it-yourself app builder for small and midsize businesses, this platform supports the development of applications for appointment scheduling, handling invoicing and accepting payments, messaging and marketing with coupons. The service allows for creation of apps that work on either iOS or Android. It also includes an option for creating a one-page mobile-optimized Web site.
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Xiaomeng Li earned her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, with Honors in Mass Communication and Fine Arts at Wilson College, Chambersburg, PA. She is now a Master of Arts candidate for New Arts Journalism program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Born in Wuhan, China, Li came to the United States in 2007. Her passion lies in popular culture, cross-cultural communication, and the relationship between the Chinese government, mass media and the civil society. Li is also an aspiring photographer who likes portraiture and the traditional darkroom experience.