Towards end-user development of REST client applications on smartphones

• We explore the implications of implementing cross-platform smartphone applications with REST services.
• A REST-based cross-platform application was developd with PhoneGap.
• The application was deployed on the Android, Windows Phone, and iOS platforms;.
• Usability of the application remains unaffected on the native platforms
• Adaptation required only minimal effort, mainly for SDK configuration

HTML5 can be used to develop client applications by composing REST web services within the context of Web 2.0. However, the possibility of implementing cross-platform smartphone applications with REST services needs to be studied. Accordingly, we developed a REST-based cross-platform application with PhoneGap. The application was deployed on the Android, Windows Phone, and iOS platforms; subsequently we evaluated its usability. We observed that REST-based cross-platform smartphone applications can be implemented with HTML5 and PhoneGap, which can be scaled-up into a REST service composition tool. Moreover, the application’s usability remains unaffected on the native platforms and adaptation required only minimal effort.