Web-Based Hybrid Mobile Apps: State of the Practice and Research Opportunities

Abstract

This paper describes the contents of a tutorial on web-based hybrid mobile apps. Nowadays millions of mobile apps are downloaded and used all over the world. Mobile apps are distributed via different app stores like Google Play Store, the Apple App Store, the Windows Phone Store. One of the most intriguing challenges in mobile apps development is its fragmentation with respect to mobile platforms (e.g., Android, Apple iOS, Windows Phone). Recently, companies like IBM and Adobe and a growing community of developers advocate web-based hybrid mobile apps development as a possible solution to mobile platforms fragmentation. Web-based hybrid mobile apps are consistent across platforms and built on web standards like HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript. This tutorial provides a state of the art overview of the solutions, technologies, and research opportunities related to the development of web-based hybrid mobile apps. Apache Cordova is presented as one of the possible technologies for hybrid apps development. The results of two empirical studies performed on real hybrid mobile apps are presented as an up-to-date snapshot of the state of the practice in the field. Research opportunities and an open discussion close the tutorial.