Mobile platform choice for developing app targeted to businesspeople

[Rackstar]

Hey,

I'm currently involved in a project involving a company that handles financial data from a lot of businesses. They already have a pretty good web interface and have numerous customers.

Now they are interested in developing an app that replaces the web interface on mobile devices. However, the question arises. What platforms should we support?

As our app is a niche market, we only target higher profile businesspeople. I searched but could not really find demographic distribution of which devices are most used among businessmen.

I tend to believe that older users use Blackberry's and younger use iPhones. But I'm concerned, with the rise of Android, if this is likely to change...

Anyone experience on this area? Myself am an Android user.

Thanks

[earthpigg]

Make a phenomenal web interface that renders well on all phones, and make a very simple app for each that remembers login information and pulls that web page up?

Play around with google's app inventor. You will be surprised how easy it is to make such an app.

[Rackstar]

Make a phenomenal web interface that renders well on all phones, and make a very simple app for each that remembers login information and pulls that web page up?

Play around with google's app inventor. You will be surprised how easy it is to make such an app.

Thanks for you response! It would also need to push notifications to the device. Maybe we could look into mobile-friendly web-interfaces first. Is javascript an option on mobile devices? Because it is fairly interactive (with charts etc).

[RiceMonster]

I don't think the "older people user Blackberries and younger people use iPhones" thought is relevant in this case. Most companies give their employees BlackBerries. I've never seen a company that gives their employees iPhones or Android phones. You're probably best focusing on BlackBerry if you want to focus on one platform.

[earthpigg]

Is javascript an option on mobile devices? Because it is fairly interactive (with charts etc).

I'm fairly certain that damn near anything you could point your finger at supports java. Including super-cheap non-smartphones.

[Rackstar]

I'm fairly certain that damn near anything you could point your finger at supports java. Including super-cheap non-smartphones.

I was talking about Javascript rather than Java. Although, is Java able to take on a native look and feel on mobile devices? (I'm a bag full of questions at the moment, not experienced with mobile development, as you can already guess)

EDIT: Java not an option on the iPhone it seems (suprisingly though):

Does the iPhone support Java?

No. The iPhone will not support Java applications of any kind. Steve Jobs has been quoted as saying "Java's not worth building in. Nobody uses Java anymore. It's this big heavyweight ball and chain."

We can't disagree with the last part of Jobs' scathing remark, but stating that Java doesn't get used anymore couldn't be farther from the truth - especially in the world of mobile devices.

In any event, the iPhone will not offer Java support.
http://www.iphonefaq.org/archives/9731