The Android and iOS devices are both leading the mobile operating system market, and it seems that this time it’s happening more closely than ever. The mobile ecosystem is changing, with Apple announcing that it wants to control the money exchange part of mobile market, and has official announced Apple Pay – single touch payments.

Google’s Android operating system (OS) led as the No. 1 smartphone platform with 51.5 percent platform market share, while Facebook ranked as the top individual smartphone app. Apple took second place in the smartphone OS market share ranking with 42.4 percent, while Microsoft placed third with 3.6 percent (up 0.3 percentage points), BlackBerry with 2.3 percent and Symbian with 0.1 percent. — eWeek

Learning to develop for both of these platforms could mean some potentially huge paychecks to be found at your door, not everyone is capable of putting together a skilled team of designers, developers, managers, etc,. In many cases, the initial investment is what determines the success of a good product. What else is there left to do?

If you’re truly serious about building apps and games for both Android and iOS devices, then I cannot recommend the following list of tools enough. You don’t need any coding skills, or any idea of how mobile programming works, all you need is time on your hands, and perhaps an idea upon which you can act. I also recommend trying out the educational course that I’ve added to this list, invaluable lessons to be learned inside of it!

Introduction to Mobile Application Development

Those who’re serious about taking on the mobile application development market, may I recommend to ‘participate’ in this introduction to mobile app development course? As many as 600 students have enrolled on this course, within which you’ll learn how to build cool apps and games using Titanium (the SDK for Android), and X-Code (the SDK for iOS) – both incredibly easy to master SDK’s.

You’ll be learning quite a bit about mobile apps within this course, but most importantly you’ll learn:

  • How and Why a Mobile Application Works
  • Learn and Understand the Fundamentals of Objective-C Programming Language
  • Gain Experience in App Building to Begin Working With a Team
  • Understanding of Mobile Development Concepts
  • Know How to Setup an Application for Both Operating Systems

If you are interested in starting a mobile application development business, working for a mobile app company, interested in making your own app or if you work with programmers then this class has something of value for you. Plus, you can request a certificate by the end of the course, which will further amplify your chances of finding a job, or a team to work together with. I’m pretty sure the support forums for this course is also full of opportunities.

1. AppMakr

appmakr
AppMakr is a do-it-yourself app creation platform that lets anyone make your own iPhone apps, Android apps and HTML5 mobile formatted websites — with no coding required. AppMakr is focused on helping artists, musicians, creatives, entrepreneurs, and bloggers alike to promote their content and ideas through mobile applications.

While it can be a worthwhile process to learn building apps using a strong programming language like Objective-C, sometimes we need only the basic features in order to accomplish our goals, and not that AppMakr is solely a company that provides basic features.

AppMakr has helped many recognized and reputable online companies to build their applications, but also to monetize their content. You can check out the apps that are stored on the AppMakr app store to see what kind of things people are building, and perhaps you’re inspired to do the same? Either way, at least you’ll know what the software is capable of.

2. ShoutEm

shoutem
ShoutEm, Inc. is the mobile platform that enables design, publishing and management of native iPhone, iPad and Android apps to long tail market of small and medium businesses. It’s definitely one of the oldest companies on this list, and because of that – these guys have the experience necessary to provide a world-class product!

The whole application building process is seamless, you get a separate interface that you can use to build apps for smartphones, as well as tablets. How about a custom content management system built specifically for mobile apps? That’d save you a lot of time, but not to worry – you can easily integrate ShoutEm built apps with popular CMS’s like Drupal, Joomla, and of course, WordPress.

Your set of features will include things like the ability to integrate in-app purchases and subscriptions, push notifications, location based features, three different formats of news, and much more. All of that at a very reasonable monthly price, and because these guys provide options for managing payments – it might prove to be a great alternative to hiring an independent developer.

In no particular order, here are the many categories that ShoutEm will happily cater to: publishers, events, music, business, local, sports, churches, radio, organizations, tourism, loyalty, shopify, and restaurants. You’ll learn that there are many options, features and unique tools that ShoutEm offers to provide you with the best possible outcome.

3. Infinite Monkeys

infinite_monkeys
Infinite Monkeys is the world’s largest DIY mobile app publishing platform. With more than 1 million niche app publishers in 100+ countries, the self-service platform that enables ordinary people to create their own mobile apps, without any coding, and for free.

This same company actually acquired our first tool on this list, AppMakr. The acqusition happened last year in September, and helped Infinite Monkeys to become the largest online company when it comes to coding-less mobile app development. You can read the official blog statement here.

You can preview the potential of this software in the video above, or you can head over to the examples page and see what others are building, and what the real possibilities are.

4. MobBase

mobbase
Are you a musician looking to promote your work, or simply want to get in touch with your fans wherever they and you are? MobBase was built specifically for servicing artists and musicians who want to stay in touch with their fans, all the features and tools provided will aid you in building an app where people can listen to your music, while also keeping up to date with when your latest concerts and gigs are.

Yes, you get features like ability to integrate a blog, or have an actual store available within your app – sell your newest records wherever you are. MobBase looks like a great tool for building iOS and Android apps, and I’m sure it will prove to be of immense value in long-term strategy.

5. AppInstitute

AppInstitute
AppInstitute is an app builder aimed at small businesses that have been dubbed the ‘Squarespace for apps’ due to it’s intuitive, code-free, drag and drop platform. It allows people with no tech skills to create an app for both iOS and Android and quickly publish it to the app stores without all the fuss. Founded in 2011, AppInstitute has grown to over 30,000 customers across 138 countries and are the number one app builder in the UK.

Tools for Developing Android & iPhone Apps

You should’t bother with thinking about the competition and intensity between these companies, rather – take a look at what you require, what you need to build your next app, and then look for those features within each of these tools. They’re all equally good, and each delivers something else for a particular market. I feel like these tools are great to use for building little compact apps that let people stay up-to date of what’s going on in your life, or in the life of your business.

So, which one of these have you already tried, and are you able to provide some detailed information about your experience? I’m looking for more suggestions and tools to be adding to this list, as I find this market to be really unique and creative at the same time.