Adobe AIR on mobile platforms

I want to build a small app for android and iphone, and since I'm familiar with actions开发者_StackOverflow中文版cript and don't own a mac, AIR is starting to seem like a good option.

Are we talking code once deploy on both here or am I still facing some double-coding?

What are the pros and cons of such development, particularly regarding UI?

What do I need for development and is it free/has free alternative and same for both target platforms? Emulators, debuggers (MonsterDebugger?), packager for iPhone, IDE (FlashDevelop ok?)... Can I use Flex Builder Burrito to build for android and than package it for iPhone unchanged?

Also, do I still need mac for distribution via AppStore?

I was also thinking of the same yesterday. If you want look at my post Platform Independent Mobile Apps.I am searching for some tools which can help me doing these things. I got one Open Plug(Ellipse) , haven't got the time to try it so far.

Apple is very restrictive in it's terms and conditions. Will update you when I'll get something. Good Luck !!

I cannot answer all of your questions, unfortunately.

However, I can tell you that if you plan to deploy a native app to the iPhone from Flash (which to my knowledge is the only product that has that functionality), you will need a Mac.

In order to distribute your app via the Apple AppStore you will need to pay the fee ($99 I think) and submit your app for approval.

The Android App Marketplace also requires a fee ($25 non-recurring, if I remember that correctly), and you will need to have the Android SDK installed to do it.

Now, since you mentioned AIR, does that mean you're planning to build a web app? If that's the case then none of the above applies, since your app will be available in-browser.

You should consider Phonegap.com as an alternative. Sounds perfect for what you want to do: fetching and display data.

AIR is code once deploy on both. The performance on iPhone has increased lately. The big con is that there are unfortunately many phones which is not supported by AIR, because of their processor type. (I discovered this a few days ago when wanting to install a simple 'Hello World' application on my own phone - didn't work).

Yes, you need a Mac to sign your iPhone-app and distribute via AppStore.