New this month from appMobi is openBuild, a free cloud service intended to allow developers to compile HTML5 code into a distributable “hybrid” apps.
Using the hybrid term in this specific manner, the company says that many of today’s most popular apps (like Netflix, the New York Times, and Facebook) are actually hybrid apps; i.e., developed with HTML5 and then deployed in a thin native wrapper so that they can be distributed in various app stores.
All the App Stores
With this in mind, openBuild seeks to create ready-to-sell binary apps for mobile app stores like the Apple App Store, Google Play (Android), Amazon, and Barnes Noble NOOK — plus openBuild also supports desktop app stores: Facebook, Chrome Web Store, Mozilla Market, and Intel AppUp.
With openBuild, appMobi initiates its support for the Heroku cloud application platform. Using the openBuild packaged Ruby library (called a “gem”), developers can create completely scripted cross platform app builds from within Ruby-based environments like Heroku and EngineYard.
openBuild is completely free and there is no limit to the number of apps that developers can build or publish. A fully featured Heroku add-on that integrates appMobi’s web services into Heroku’s platform is under development as well.
openBuild supports all HTML5 and JavaScript frameworks, giving developers who use jQuery, jqMobi, Enyo, Meteor, Sencha Touch, or any other mobile-ready framework, a free tool for compiling and packaging their HTML5 code into store-ready hybrid apps. Until now, appMobi’s cross platform build and packaging services were only available through appHub, appMobi’s app control center. With this release, openBuild and all of appMobi’s other cloud services are available to developers as web services.
