Those who have given into the marketing hype of the iPhone may well have found that, despite having thousands of apps available in the App Store, the one you really want doesn’t exist. Creating your own app will provide the functionality you need, and companies who do so stand to gain real kudos. We'll also show BlackBerry and Google Android users how to customise their handsets.
Those who have given into the marketing hype of the iPhone may well have found that, despite having thousands of apps available in the App Store, the one you really want doesn’t exist. Creating your own app will provide the functionality you need, and companies who do so stand to gain real kudos. We'll also show BlackBerry and Google Android users how to customise their handsets.
We’ve been dabbling in social media for some time, with our Facebook profile, and regular Twitter updates offering additional means of keeping in touch with our readers. An iPhone app is the next logical step.
We already have a mobile site, but we couldn’t resist the lure of app creation. And the free AppMakr development kit we’ve used in our walkthrough does much of the hard work for you. If you want to offer your finished app for download, you can pay AppMakr to facilitate this or go another route to market. We’ll discuss the options later.
If you want to offer your homemade app on platforms other than Apple’s, you’ll need to investigate options such as iSites or the software developer kits (SDKs) for Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices.
Here, we look at how to get started with making your own smartphone app and customising an existing one.
Getting your iPhone app on to the App Store is a fine art, however. Apple has some strict regulations to which all developers must adhere, and makes designers jump through several hoops to get anywhere near the approval-pending stage. We suggest two companies that can help, and outline what’s involved in doing it yourself via the Apple Developer Network.
It’s not quite so tricky to create a custom Android app, known as a ‘widget’. The open-source nature of the Google mobile platform lends itself to tweaking. Similarly, you can easily make your BlackBerry handset your own, or create and market custom BlackBerry themes, using a BlackBerry SDK.
Create your own iPhone app with AppMakr
Step 1. Download and install AppMakr. Sign up for an account and follow the prompts to point to the site you intend to create an app for. RSS feeds are recognised from most well-known sources, and a green tick indicates the feed is acceptable and meets W3C web standards.
Step 2. Grab some graphics with which to populate your app. One of these will be the square icon that appears on the App Store and illustrates what the app is. Ensure you have the right to use the logo or other graphic you insert here. The graphic should be a 512x512-pixel PNG file.
Also see:
Mobile Advisor
Mobile phone deals
Apple iPhone 3GS review
Apple iPhone application reviews
Comments
RawApps Website said: Widgets amp a mobile friendly version of your website are not considered apps In order to make an app you need to get a developer graphic designer etc
Gary said: Joe Schmoe beat me to correct the widget definition an app is called beleive it or not an app in android Very mixed up artical can be summarised aswant to make your blog into an app try AppMakrps did you know you can customize your blackberry or android phone incase you felt left out by the first 3 pages of article very poor
Joe Schmoe said: An Android app is not called a widget Some Android apps can contain widgets an active desktop feature not supported by iPhone Poor article