How to make an “instant app”:
By using my InstantApp app template, that opens a mobile web site in a browser inside the app.
If one’s focus is mobile micro sites (which it is for e.g. Cliqtags) this is a good way to make them behave as native apps, at least when it comes to the installation, but potentially also in terms of look and behavior to a certain extent.
The only things needed to change in the template for a new such app is the icon, name and URL, provided you already have the mobile Web site or use CliqTags.
Actually many mobile magazine and similar apps were done this way before, and probably still are.
Interestingly, Javascript on the web pages can directly control Android features, e.g. for reading out and changing status of the phone hardware etc, beyond what is standard in HTML5.
This together with Cliqtags can decrease information app development time from weeks to hours.
InstantApp is similar to PhoneGap and other HTML/Javascript app development tools, with the difference that InstantApp is optimized for specifically CliqTags, where you create the Web content via a simple-to-use tool with built-in intelligent modules for different kinds of content. Hence, it’s faster to work with than PhoneGap, and you simultaneously get a mobile Web site. If you already have a mobile site in CliqTags or elsewhere, it’s even faster of course.
A template for iOS is also needed, but the Web site created by CliqTags could be accessed directly from other phones.