PhoneGap Build, the service that helps you compile mobile apps for multiple platforms, has moved out of private beta to be tested by all developers.

PhoneGap lets you write mobile phone applications using nothing but HTML and JavaScript but you can still access the native hardware and package the result as a native app. It is easy to create app and then you can run it on all of the platforms that PhoneGap supports. The only difficulty is that in each case you need to install and use the SDK for the particular phone you are targeting and this can be difficult and expensive. The alternative is to upload your HTML/JavaScript to the PhoneGap Build server which packages it and delivers a native app back to you. This is much simpler and perfect for situations where you don't own the development hardware, e.g. a Mac.

Now the Build service is out of closed beta so we can all use it. A  pricing plan has also been proposed. There's a free "Developer" tier but this only gives you one private app with a limit of 30 builds per month. It does however allow an unlimited number of open-source apps.

The paid for subscriptions range from "Starter" at $12 per month, for 3 apps, through "Team" at $30 per month for 10 apps and 3 users  to "Corporate" at $90 per month for 25 apps and 10 users. In each case an annual subscription gives you 12 months for the price of 10 and an infinite number of open-source apps are included in all of them.

With PhoneGap Build creating cross-platform mobile apps comes down to a three-step process:

1. Write your app using HTML, CSS and JavaScript
2. Upload it to the PhoneGap Build service
3. Get back apps for Apple iOS, Google Android, Palm, Symbian, Blackberry and more.

Update:

October 18: Revised pricing plans remove build limits and changers terminology

Callback and PhoneGap Build

Related reading

PhoneGap making changes

If you want to know about using PhoneGap without Build see Harry Fairhead's article Getting started with PhoneGap.

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