PhoneGap, the open source mobile developement framework that allows mobile developers build apps using Web standards, is launching today into version 1.0. This is a milestone release for the platform, which now adds additional APIs, features and improvements in its newly updated product.
The launch is being celebrated in Portland, at an event called PhoneGap Day held at Urban Airship, a company which just had some major news of its own. Champagne all around!
Mobile developers know PhoneGap as the platform that provides a way to build apps using HMTL, CSS and JavaScript, all of which are common Web standards. PhoneGap developers can use either the free open source framework or the newer PhoneGap Build service (beta) which returns apps for iOS, Android, webOS, Symbian, BlackBerry and soon, MeeGo and bada.
The open source code has been downloaded over 600,000 times, at a rate of around 40,000 times per month, says PhoneGap creator Nitobi.
What’s New in PhoneGap 1.0?
With the launch of PhoneGap 1.0, the company says the focus was on accessing native device API’s.
Other improvements include:
- Overall API stability and pluggable architecture
- W3C DAP API compatibility
- Contacts API
- Remote debugging tools
- A new unifying bridge interface that makes adding platforms and platform extensions easy
- Improved plugin development processes
Most of the improvements to PhoneGap 1.0 came from its community of developers, which Nitobi CEO Andre Charland says is PhoneGap’s “greatest asset.” Contibuters include Nitobi, hundreds of indvidual developers and a team of senior software engineers at IBM. Adobe has also shown support for PhoneGap in its Dreamweaver software. Others, including Alcatel-Lucent, Sabre, Cisco, Logitech and Time Warner, have adopted it as well, Nitobi says.
PhoneGap 1.0 will be officially launched at this afternoon’s party, which will inlcude talks, device hands-on’s, demos and, of course, beer.
