APACHE CORDOVA: PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
Joe Bowser
bowserj@apache.org
"The goal of Phon
"The goal of PhoneGap is to cease to exist"- Brian Leroux
PROGRESS
- Apple still recommends Obj-C and XCode for dev
- Google still Java and Android Studio for dev
- Mobile Web usage has dropped
- App usage has skyrocketed
- Mobile Web App discoverability still sucks!
PROGRESS
- As an Open Source project, we're successful
- As an Web Advocacy Project, not so much!
- Failure is OK
What we offer
- Cross-Platform Framework using HTML/CSS/JS
- Standardized APIs based on W3C Drafts and Standards (where they exist)
- Rapid Prototyping of an application
- Lowering the barrier to entry for mobile development
- 100% Open Source Framework - Apache Cordova
- Currently the most popular web-based framework
- We make Hybrid Apps, not Mobile Web Sites!
HOW DID WE GET HERE
- The Mobile Web did truly exist until 2007
- iOS and Android SDKs were promoted as the one true way to create applications
- We didn't really know Objective C, and everyone we knew hated Java
- PhoneGap was born, assuming that like other things, Apple and Google would kill us by just allowing Web Tech on Mobile
- Hence the "Goal is to cease to exist"
Milestones AND speed bumps
-
Getting our first real corporate contributors
- Nitobi getting acquired by Adobe
- Donating our code to the Apache Software Foundation
-
ALL SORTS OF FUD along the way
- Android WebView
- and more!
CONTRIBUTORS
CONTRIBUTORS
- Really started when we met IBM at OSCON
- Revamped our CLA at the time
- IBM contributing allowed us to consult and pay our bills
- Learned about how to deal with contributors
- PhoneGap became a real open source project
GETTING ACQUIRED
GETTING ACQUIRED
- Adobe bought Nitobi in October 2011
- No longer having to do consulting
- (Yay! Just kidding, we <3 our past clients)
- PhoneGap became Adobe PhoneGap
- PhoneGap Build
- PhoneGap Enterprise
- Had to have a meeting to figure out how to keep the core PhoneGap framework open source
RE-NAMING
- First, there was PhoneGap
- Then we had to rename the project to donate the source
- After brainstorming, we decided to call it Callback
- After realizing the hard way that this will kill your discoverability, we renamed it Cordova
- Because of the renaming, we had to change the entire API
- This pissed off our community
WHY CORDOVA?
DONATING TO APACHE
APACHE CORDOVA
- We donated the PhoneGap source to the ASF
- We renamed the project Apache Cordova
- We gained even more contributors, including Google
- Apache Cordova became a top level project
- Cordova became the base for various hybrid frameworks
- Cordova now exists in more places than it ever did before
- Despite being a part of Apache
RECAP
- We <3 the web
- We understand the strengths of the web
- We understand the weaknesses
- We like mobile
Past Releases for PhoneGap
- PhoneGap 1.0: Released June 29, 2011
- PhoneGap 1.2: Released November 7, 2011
- PhoneGap 1.5: Released March 6, 2012
- Cordova 2.0: Released July 20, 2012
- First major official Apache release
- Contains Cordova WebView
- Cordova 3.0: Released July 19, 2013
- InAppBrowser
- CLI
THIRD PARTY WEBVIEWs
THIRD PARTY WEBVIEWS
- The Android WebView is better, but STILL sucks
- (Stuck on Chrome 30 on Android 4.4.2)
- It's so bad that people are writing third party webviews
- Android Cordova Developers will have the option to switch from using the default WebView to a third-party view
- Installable similar to a plugin:
- Mozilla GeckoView
- Intel Crosswalk
- Amazon FireOS View (FireOS only)
- and more...
DEMO
CONCLUSION
- PhoneGap still exists, because the web still exists
-
Users are using apps, whether they want to or not
- Not everyone has the budget for an iOS, Android and Windows Mobile developer
- Mobile Browsers are getting better, as is network speed
- Hybrid application frameworks lower the barrier of entry