tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2010:/start//7/tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472- 2010-02-23T21:44:49Z Comments for WidgetPad: Open-Source, Web-Based Environment for Mobile Developers Movable Type 4.23-en tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472 2009-09-21T14:59:53Z 2009-09-21T09:56:12Z WidgetPad: Open-Source, Web-Based Environment for Mobile Developers Satoshi Nakajima is the creator of the world's first CAD application for the personal computer. He was a defining force behind both Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 3.0. These days, he's put his mind toward helping mobile developers create revolutionary applications. Today, Nakajima is launching WidgetPad, a free, collaborative, web-based, open-source mobile development environment where... Jolie O'Dell Satoshi Nakajima is the creator of the world's first CAD application for the personal computer. He was a defining force behind both Windows 95 and Internet Explorer 3.0. These days, he's put his mind toward helping mobile developers create revolutionary applications.

Today, Nakajima is launching WidgetPad, a free, collaborative, web-based, open-source mobile development environment where developers can easily create smartphone applications using standard web technologies (such as HTML 5, CSS, and Javascript) and distribute them as stand-alone applications to app stores.

]]> WidgetPad aims to alleviate the complexity of creating native applications and eliminate the need to learn platform-specific API sets and tools. The current set of tools for iPhone developers allows them to create fully interactive, media-rich mobile apps that take advantage of the iPhone's advanced hardware capabilities (GPS, accelerometer, compass, etc.).

Upcoming versions of WidgetPad will enable developers to seamlessly port these applications to other smartphone devices such as the Palm Pre and Blackberry.

The online WidgetPad development environment uses a hosted SaaS model and is completely free. Developers will have to adhere to an open-source agreement, and their apps will be available through a generic WidgetPad application on the iPhone. A premium version is planned, which will allow developers to work outside of the open-source license on private projects and deliver stand-alone, branded applications.

"I've been developing a lot for the iPhone - a very exciting market, but it's closed," Nakajima told us in a phone conversation last week. "The apps only work on one device, and Apple controls the distribution. The smartphone application should be much more open... We're pushing hard to make it an open-source community."

Nakajima also expressed his faith in the value of emerging web standards, saying, "I think our hope lies in HTML 5. It's like AJAX on steroids. I think that's the future - a lot of applications will be developed using this technology... But that's going to take time. A lot of innovation needs to happen. What we want to do is accellerate that innovation."

The WidgetPad founder believes that, with strong support from entities including Google and Apple, HTML 5 will ultimately supplant C++, Objective C, and Java.

And of course, the mind behind IE3 also has browser-based views on how apps will be served to users.

"I believe that the web will become an application platform - everything will be delievered via the browser. That was my thought in 1996 - it's taking longer than I originally thought," he said with a smile in his voice.

And with regard to mobile development for the multitude of available smart devices, Nakajima concluded, "It's really about community... We're trying to get a lot of other developers to work together; we want everyone to work on solving this problem."

]]> tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472-comment:158764 Comment from Heimetli on 2009-09-21 Heimetli http://www.heimetli.ch > HTML 5 will ultimately supplant C++, Objective C, and Java
A markup language will supplant programming languages ????

I don't believe it !

]]> 2009-09-21T15:32:17Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472-comment:158795 Comment from mk on 2009-09-21 mk heime,
I suppose Javascript is in the heart of functionality and HTML in user interface. Just like in web. *duh*

Maybe is what J2ME was supposed to be a decade ago. Unfortunately there never was a standard mobile dev language and this pretty much underlines that there never will be. :)

]]> 2009-09-21T21:03:29Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472-comment:158857 Comment from Damon Oehlman on 2009-09-21 Damon Oehlman http://distractable.net/ Looks like an interesting platform, and is going to be something that I add to the list of things to play with in the iPhone + Smartphone space.

I recently wrote a post that compared a few of the current web based application frameworks for mobile:

http://distractable.net/coding/iphone-android-web-application-frameworks/


Looks like I'll be writing another one soon regarding whether widgetpad changes the game at all...

]]> 2009-09-22T04:34:04Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472-comment:158880 Comment from jeux psp on 2009-09-21 jeux psp http://www.zoombits.fr/jeux/ I can't be the only person who thinks writing an app in C is about a million times easier than writing one in HTML and Javascript. This sounds like a great solution if your end goal is to torture yourself for no good reason.

]]> 2009-09-22T06:53:25Z tag:www.readwriteweb.com,2009:/readwritestart//7.16472-comment:158892 Comment from Dominique Rabeuf on 2009-09-22 Dominique Rabeuf http://www.web21th.com The best way to avoid all standards ?!
Mainly this guy Satoshi Nakajima is right while this one http://pemberton.nl/vandf/2009/07/xhtml2-not-dead.html is wrong. Just as you like it. In fast foods the menu lists contain numerous meals.

]]> 2009-09-22T08:05:36Z