Appcelerator Titanium - For iPhone, Android, Windows, Linux, Mac & Web. Anyone Try It?

Looks promising if the IDE is decent and they can be packaged and deployed as native apps on each device.

On further inspection it looks like they 'control' the deployment of the apps onto the devices/store which whilst I appreciate they need to probably monetize their service I would like to control device deployment.

Well like you Phil it is hard to unravel it as it isn't actually clear what is open-source and what isnt! I think first off I'll download the desktop beta (as it looks like the mobile product isnt yet available) and go from there.

Does show promise although they arent the only ones doing it, there is another offering called phonegap for cross platform app development, again at an early stage.

I think perhaps iphone/android/RIM development tools are the new *hot* startup and VCs are queuing up to hand over cash (imho).

Gary

Hello all -

Thanks for your interest in Titanium. I'd like to answer a few questions, but feel free to fire away with any additional ones you may have. We're certainly very interested in your feedback.

In answer to "what's open source and what's not" the answer is that Titanium is 100% open source. Now your next question is probably "how do you guys make money... what will I need to pay for". Since we're in beta, we haven't disclosed final pricing, but I can share a couple of current thoughts on this.

We will always have a version that is open source. We are committed to updating this version at least twice a year.

We are also planning on an 'indie' version that will be reasonably priced for the individual developer. This will primarily benefit folks who want updates / new releases as soon as they're released (eg: a perpetual beta program). There will also be a team edition that will have developer and production support. Again, this isn't final and pricing isn't final, but hopefully this gives you some indication on where we're going. The whole model is geared around enabling as many developers to use the product as possible.

As it relates to documentation and examples, I agree with you that we can and will do a better job at this. I've put together a 'getting started' blog post that should point you to our most recent documentation and examples. It's at appcelerant dot com (I can't seem to post links on this forum quite yet). Definitely give the Yelp and kitchen sink examples a test spin. The kitchen sink, in particular, is a sample project that shows every single API in action (eg: geo, camera, file, db, UI, etc). Our lead product evangelist also put together some really cool training vids to check out as part of our "App U" program: home/community/appcelerator university.

Hope this helps. Good luck with your projects and please drop by our forums if you have any questions at all: support dot appcelerator dot net

And for those who haven't registered, please do so (home/request titanium mobile). One tip - filling in the last field (your app plans) will expedite your entry into the program ;-).

Best,

Scott Schwarzhoff
VP, Marketing
Appcelerator

one more thing - Titanium developer gives you access to Desktop (as it's released) and Mobile (which is in beta). When you download the bits, you get the ability to create a Desktop project immediately. Once we approve your mobile beta request, you'll then see that option available to you automatically once you fire up Titanium Developer again.

BTW: Titanium Developer is itself a project that was created with Titanium. We love eating our own dogfood.

Cheers,

Scott

Great stuff Scott, thanks for stopping by!

So how will you control access into the app store say for iphone apps? I need my devid for device deployment?

@phil: thanks for the link, I have downloaded but havent built yet, it fails in xcode but I need to check all the dependancies and then report back.

Gary