As businesses increasingly need to create apps across multiple platforms, by 2016, more than 50 per cent will use a HTML5/native hybrid for a cross-platform deployment that can still make use of on-device functionality, according to a Gartner report. To use features like location, notifications, mapping and hardware like the camera, apps need to be developed using either hybrid or native architectures.

“Enterprises should consider how applications can be enriched or improved by the addition of native device capabilities and evaluate development frameworks that offer the ability to develop native, hybrid and web applications using the same code base,” said Van Baker, research vice president at Gartner. “Where possible, development activities should be consolidated via cross-platform frameworks.”

$50 handset

The Mobility for Change report also said that Chinese brands and white-label handset makers will have a $50 smartphone ready to go to market this year. They may choose to remove features that have come to be expected in developed markets in order to keep costs low.

“Global, brand-name smartphone vendors must re-examine their product lineups to determine how their low-end offerings are differentiated from the competitive products offered by low-cost vendors,” said Mark Hung, research director at Gartner. “Otherwise, brand-name smartphone vendors may want to cede this market to the white-box vendors and focus on high-end devices.”