KaiOS Technologies has announced the official launch of the KaiOS Developer Portal which aims to help developers get started building apps on the KaiOS mobile platform. If you’ve never heard of KaiOS, it’s the successor to Firefox OS which was quite revolutionary in that it was built using only web technologies. KaiOS also uses web technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and all of the available apps are written in these languages too.
With the launch of the KaiOS Developer Portal, developers new to the platform have all of the tools they need to begin building and distributing apps for KaiOS. The guide can help you get a feel for things with sample code, there are instructions for setting up your development environment, and there’s an easy to set up simulator that lets you run your app virtually to ensure everything is working.
Commenting on the news, Sebastien Codeville, CEO of KaiOS Technologies, said:
“We’re delighted to welcome more developers, designers, and engineers into our ecosystem, and can’t wait to see all of the incredible content they create.”
While KaiOS is relatively unknown in developed markets, it’s a growing platform among first-time internet users in Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and is currently running more than 100 million devices worldwide. This makes it the third-largest mobile operating system in the world – according to the company, this figure is set to rise by another 50 million by the end of the year.
Breaking into the mobile market is an incredibly difficult task due to Apple"s and Google’s advantage in the sector. With that said, KaiOS Technologies believes that developers who write apps for its platform will be able to get first access to new customers as its platform is targeting untapped markets. With many developers already using web technologies to build their Android and iOS apps, porting them over to KaiOS doesn’t have to be too much of a chore.
If you’re brand new to programming in HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, be sure to check out this list of resources which KaiOS Technologies has compiled making it easy to get started. If you"re new to programming in general, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript are some of the easiest languages to pick up and deliver immediate results as they don"t need to be compiled.