Creating Apple/Android Apps

[itmar]

Hi,
I'm a complete techno-phobe but work have asked me to find out about creating an app for departmental induction. Basically the app is to be a reference document which the new staff members can load onto their phones and find out specific departmental details (e.g. who to contact when they call in sick, where the equipment is stored etc).

I'm a bit dubious that this is possible:

1. I've been asked to look at Apple apps but aren't they only compatible with i-phones. Can Android be used on any phones?
2. There wont be one specific document so there will have to be several different apps for each department - wouldn't this be very expense?

I've suggested having a link to the intranet where the local documents can be stored on PDF and then downloaded into an easily readable document.

Sorry if what i have written is complete rubbish - i'm completely new to technology and am a bit at sea.

Any ideas or links from anyone will be gratefully received!!!

iOS apps would only work on iphones/ipods, yes. They also have to be approved by apple before release, and as far as I know, once approved would be available to anyone who cared to download it from the app store. I'm not aware that you can restrict the app availability to certain people.

Android apps only work on android phones, although you could create this and release it in house, there's no approval process.

It would be much better to create an intranet which hosts all the content, so it is private to your company. Once the server set up is done, you can create simple pages in Word which can be converted to html to display online (it really is very easy, I had this job for a company I worked for a few years ago). Alternatively, your company could look at buying in one of the 'help tool' packages lot of firms use, if there is going to be a lot of information displayed.

These have a cost, but are quite powerful - you can create sections for different departments and jobs within the departments quite easily, and they can be easier to learn to edit but if you are only needing to display simple information, it might be overkill.

Thanks WhatMakesYouSay - That was a really useful summary for me and I'm glad you agree that apps aren't the best system for us! Do you have the names of any of these companies so I can have a look on the web? I've looked at Moodle which looks quite a good site but I'm sure there are better ones out there.

Itmar

I'd suggest creating a PDF then telling people to download a PDF reader on their smartphone such as cloudreader. They can then open the document on their phone and use it as a reference.

Thanks niceguy2 - I'm seeing out web-design team tomorrow and I'll be able to specify this and see if its possible (i cant see why it cant be!)