Appcelerator Titanium: Flexible tool with pros, and a few cons

When it comes to enterprise mobile apps development, Appcelerator’s open-source, cross-platform, development product Titanium makes for a very flexible, ubiquitous, development tool.

Titanium grants the developer several important, and powerful, things:

1) a development environment that enables the creation of apps that are native to different mobile devices and associated operating systems, to include iOS, Android, and Blackberry;

2) a free, open-source, software development kit (SDK); 3) efficient code modules, which cuts down on the amount of code that needs to be written.

We can also add over 5,000 device and mobile operating system APIs to the mix. Recognize too that the open-source SDK is awfully handy; it encompasses a single JavaScript-based SDK. It also includes Studio – an Eclipse-based integrated development environment (IDE), Alloy for an efficient model-view-controller (MVC), resulting in the use of native-user interface components, and cloud services for a ready mobile backend.

We can summarize some Pros thus, with a couple Cons to follow:
Pros
– By using native UI components, we achieve a distinct performance win;
– The Alloy framework works to normalize the UI across platforms;
– By using JavaScript, in normalizing code cross-platform, you can leverage existing skills on multiple platforms;
– Added value is realized being that Appcelerator provides items such as App Analytics and Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS);
– Titanium is free, as well as open-source.

Cons
– Developers must manage platform SDKs locally; it’s recommended that you maintain a controlled build environment – a continuous integration (CI) process – particularly when targeting multiple platforms.

– SDK- related issues, due to versions and build, can rob time that is always better-suited to the delivery of product and features.

– The normalization of the UI across platforms, generally viewed as a Pro, can be a Con that requires the team to train on proprietary technology, and these skills are not applicable outside Titanium.

Appcelerator Titanium provides a powerful means to build enterprise mobile apps. Each organization will have to weigh what it can do for them, vs. any limitations that may or may not apply to their specific environment.