“Best” platform for mobile app dev other than Java? [closed]

Question

Which platform is best to learn for mobile dev other than Java. Currently I use a lot of java and its great for most things unless you are trying to do more low level stuff.

A similar question was asked here https://stackoverflow.com/questions/598252/most-promising-mobile-platforms but most of the response recommend technology which is not widely used at the moment. Everyone in the US goes on about the iPhone but there are probably less than 1000 people in South Africa with this phone while the Android phone has not been launched yet.

So I am looking for recommendations that target the most number of mobile phones out there. According to my knowledge this would be symbion?

I am not going to look at windows mobile as it has already lost the battle and looks set to stay with its small market segment.

thanks

Answer 1

I find Symbian a great platform to choose to start mobile application development on. The Symbian community has been growing of late. The tools are getting better, and so is the SDK/Documentation. On top of all that, Symbian targets and captures a great market that is growing strong. Development may take more time than when using a different language (such as java) or platform, but it is certainly more flexible, and you end up learning even more about different aspects of embedded development and mobile phones.

Answer 2

The BREW SDK is an alternative. It works on many devices, and is fairly good for cross-platform(mobile phones) development. You can use C/C++ that way.

Answer 3

looks like you answered your own question. If you want to target the most phones and need access to low level functionality, in the current mobile market, go for Symbian and Series60.

Shameless plug : recent book written to introduce developers to mobile c++ development on symbian http://developer.symbian.com/quick

Answer 4

These days you should focus on HTML5, as this seems to be the way for cross-platform development. Most major mobile platforms support it to different extent, but the future so far seem to be set.