MobilityWire

jqMobi (www.jqmobi.com),

a new open source mobile development framework makes its public debut today.  jqMobi is a mobile-optimized, HTML5 rewrite of the ubiquitous jQuery framework which is used on over 50% of all desktop websites.  jqMobi provides stunning speed improvement (2.5X faster than desktop jQuery), size reduction (only 3K vs. 36K) and code efficiency, with a particular focus on delivering an identically high quality user experience to both iOS and Android devices. Mobile developers can join the community and download the code at www.jqmobi.com.

JavaScript frameworks like jqMobi provide common user interface and programming functions, reducing development effort and time. jqMobi includes a query selector engine, a user interface (UI) library, and a collection of plugins. On mobile devices, existing JavaScript UI frameworks like jQuery Mobile, JQTouch and Sencha Touch are all hampered by their roots in desktop Web browsers and HTML 4. Under these legacy UI frameworks, the user experience on Android-based smartphones is particularly poor.  Android devices now represent nearly 50% of the world smartphone market.

“It’s great to finally see a lightweight JS library specifically tailored for smartphone performance and inspired by the popular APIs that made jQuery famous,” said Paul Bakaus, Zynga Germany CTO and creator of jQuery UI. “To me, this is the hopeful prediction of the future of jQuery 2.0, today.”

jqMobi was contributed to the open mobile Web community by the developers at appMobi.

“With jqMobi we’ve given the mobile development world an HTML5-ready jQuery,” said Sam Abadir, appMobi CTO and founder. “The truth is, the single biggest issue facing mobile HTML5 developers is the lack of good user interfaces. There is nothing more critical to the success of mobile HTML5 in general. Apple set the bar high with its Cocoa Touch mobile interface and until now, similar quality UX tools haven’t existed for Web-based mobile developers, and that is why we’ve put this project into play. We’ve started this project with high expectations, focused around delivering speed, size advantages, and cross platform uniformity, and we look forward to seeing where the open source development community takes it from here.”

Speed

jqMobi outperforms jQuery by 3X on Android and 2.2X on iOs. The JSPERF.COM test suite enables comparison of raw engine performance by testing the three most common functions: single query selector, create element and append element.

Tests were performed on various Android and iOS versions revealing that jqMobi outperforms jQuery by 292% on Android and 223% on iOS. Improvement over Zepto was 5.5X on Android and 4X on iOs. Complete details of the tests and results can be viewed at www.jqmobi.com.

Size

The jqMobi engine weighs only 3741 bytes, just 1/10^th of jQuery, and less than half of Zepto. Code size is important for user interactivity in mobile because heavier pages take longer to load and to initialize. The full jqMobi library with UI code is also tiny, at just 15K gZipped. By comparison, jQuery Mobile is 62K, and Sencha Touch weighs in at 99K.

Cross Platform Uniformity

jqMobi was designed and tested specifically to provide identical experiences to users on both dominant smartphone platforms. Android has been a particular point of failure for desktop frameworks. A short video contrasting common UI functions on both platforms using each of the frameworks is available at www.jqmobi.com.

jqMobi is offered free of charge as an open source asset under the MIT X11 license, starting with a short private beta testing period which begins today. appMobi encourages interested developers to stay up to date with jqMobi development by joining the email list at www.jqmobi.com. The development of jqMobi and maintenance of the JQMOBI.COM site are sponsored by appMobi

About appMobi

A bold proponent of the open Web, appMobi’s development tools and cloud-based services build on HTML5, CSS and JavaScript, creating a unified, open ecosystem that competes favorably with “walled gardens” offered by Apple and Google.  In 2011, the company released several of its core technologies as open source, including its cross platform mobile device API, mobiUs Web browser, and directCanvas HTML5 game acceleration. In December, appMobi was named “Most Promising Tech Company for 2012” by ReadWriteWeb.  appMobi’s technology allows mobile app developers to support HTML5 and native app platforms with just one code base, and to deploy and service their apps on multiple platforms, including the open Web. For more information visit http://www.appmobi.com.

appMobi is a registered trademark of appMobi Inc. iOS and related marks, images and symbols are the exclusive properties and trademarks of Apple Computer Corp.  All other trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners including: Amazon, Adobe, Flash, Android, Google, Chrome, Samsung, Motorola, HTC, Sencha.

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