I'm not sure if this is the best place for this - but I'm new here. I work for a theatre and they're interested in developing an app that will contain all of that season's show playbills (we're trying to go paperless). They want the ability to be able to open the app and download the recent show programs, so that patrons can view them on their phones and we will no longer have to print thousands of paper programs. I'm not sure where to start with this - it would be a .pdf based app I'm assuming, it would just need to store the .pdfs of each program. Are there any services that I can develop this easily with? Or software I can invest in? Anyone who has done this before I would greatly appreciate your advice. Thank you in advance!
Try this: http://phonegap.com/ Not sure you'd want to use pdfs. In my opinion it's best to have all the data available to the app so you don't need additional downloads.
Avoid PDFs like the plague. They're horrible on phones. Create a simple app where the users can check the program, search for shows, and possibly buy tickets. If you want to promote the use of the app, give users of the app (in the beginning an incentive, like 5-10% off ticket prices if ordered through the app, etc). Having an app just for downloading the program in PDFs doesn't give the user any extra benefits except no paper - which isn't a big incentive to have another app on your phone. By ditching PDFs, you can also expand on the content. Link the actors and other performers (and maybe also directors), suggest other shows based on what the user is looking at, or what the user orders. Show links to reviews - basically, include all the resources at your disposal, and create a community around using the app, not just allow for some crappy "download program" - that is pointless, and won't create any real usage needs.