Towards end-user development of REST client applications on smartphones

Abstract

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.