In little more than a month, the beta of Appcelerator’s Titanium Mobile has garnered the attention of more than 3,000 developers. But the beta hasn’t just gotten some respectable use: it’s changing what kind of apps get created.
Titanium Mobile is aimed at those looking to build apps for the iPhone and Android, but who’d rather code in standard HTML, CSS and JavaScript instead of Objective-C or Java. By opening up the most popular mobile devices to anyone with Web development chops, an entirely different class of app has taken over on the platform, compared to what you’ll commonly see in the App Store.
As we noted in our review of the beta when it first launched, the real test of Titanium Mobile is whether or not developers will embrace it. In answer to that test, Appcelerator is touting the 3,000 they’ve had sign up for their beta in just over a month.
While that’s nothing to sneeze at, the real sea change that Appcelerator might make isn’t about popularity. It’s about what kind of development is getting done.
In accordance with Apple’s marketing scheme for the device, the breakaway majority of iPhone applications have been entertainment and gaming. The difference when looking at those working with Titanium is stark. The number one category of app to come out of the platform is utilities, such as server monitoring. The next two tiers are business apps to create mobile versions of enterprise software and social networking.
If adoption of Titanium Mobile continues as such a breakneck pace, the stats so far suggest that it could have a significant impact on trends in mobile development.
