Saturday, July 09, 2011

Custom, Generated, Configured

In the mobile application development space there are three main ways to build apps: custom, generated, and configured.  In this post I'll describe each and then discuss their relative merits and pitfalls.

Custom application development is when an app is built for the specific customer needs and the engineering shop makes the app basically "by hand".  They may re-use some components, but in general they are building the thing from scratch.

Generated apps are those built from frameworks like Sencha, Phone Gap, and Canappi.  At AppsJack we like Canappi for its ease of use and comprehensive treatment of functionality from the database to middle tier to front end, be it iOS, Android, or HTML/CSS.

Configured apps are a category of apps like those from Mobile Roadie that are configured.  They basically offer a template that you can use and plug things into.

For customers who are not very price conscious and want the best possible solution, they're going to want to choose a custom application and probably have it generated from a library like Canappi where possible.  For customers who are price conscious and want to plug into a basic app to get in the game, they may think of configured apps like Mobile Roadie.

Whichever type of customer you are, consider using AppsJack to get you the app you want.  We'll work with you to understand your needs and give you the best bang for the buck.

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