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Ask HN: Native apps development vs. cross platform solutions
I built my personal opinion a few years ago (4) about the native vs cross platform. While the pros of the cross platform are obvious, their cons were a no go for me:
- Native apps development was the only way to use all the features available. I recall one of our customers rushing to native app development, because that one last feature (opening a PDF) was not feasible through the technology they were using.
- The produced apps didn't "feel native" and had a poor integration in the system.
- The performances of the cross platform solutions were really poor, even for simple apps. Those everything but fluid animations are killing UX.
This is what I thought 4 years ago. Now many things have evolved:
- Cross platform solutions may have improved
- The number of target platform has decreased and the future is clearer: iOS and Android are the clear winners. Samsung Bada, RIM's Blackberry, Windows Phone can be ranked either as dead or minor.
- iOS development may be easier thanks to Swift.
Interestingly, I don't see that any mobile pure player (except games maybe) are picking any of those cross platform technologies for their development.
What is your opinion? What are your company's choices and why?
Related but old HN thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4435053