Building Cross-Platform Apps using Titanium, Alloy, and Appcelerator Cloud Services

Chapter 2

Introducing Appcelerator Cloud Services

ONE OF THE bigger challenges in building a complex mobile application comes from an unexpected source, building the supporting backend systems for the application. The majority of applications out there interact with web services or databases to save or retrieve information for presentation in a mobile application. As a mobile developer, you need to find a solution since your goal is to develop mobile solutions, not build and maintain backend services and perform IT management and support.

The traditional approach is to build this backend system, find a place to host it, and then provide the appropriate resources to support it. Taking that approach in the mobile solutions world is cost-prohibitive, is an ongoing maintenance challenge, and is a financial burden on the mobile solution even before the application is launched.

Appcelerator Cloud Services provides a complete framework for integrating the backend services into your mobile application. These services are hosted and maintained by Appcelerator, the APIs are tested and supported by Appcelerator, and handling of the appropriate scaling as needed is also their responsibility. These Appcelerator-provided services enable you to create rich immersive mobile applications. You can extend the application’s services with the Node.ACS product and most importantly leverage the infrastructure for the backend provided by Appcelerator.

Key features of the Appcelerator Cloud Services ...