Obviously, the differences between Cordova and PhoneGap were minimal in the beginning. A common analogy you will often run into is that Cordova is to PhoneGap what WebKit is to Chrome or Safari. What happened was, Adobe acquired Nitobi in 2011, and donated the open-source core to the Apache Software Foundation, who rebranded it Apache Cordova. In Nitobi’s vision, most mobile applications would soon be developed using PhoneGap, but developers would still have the option of writing native code when necessary, be it due to performance issues, or lack of a method of accessing specific hardware. In 2009, a startup called Nitobi created PhoneGap, an open source API for accessing native mobile resources, with the goal of enabling developers to create mobile applications using standard web technologies. This is where becoming a well-versed Apache Cordova developer can come in handy by providing a way to develop mobile applications using standard web technologies-HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript. However, developing for each separate mobile platform can be an exhaustive task, especially if your resources are limited, or if you are a single developer rather than a mobile app development company. Note: Since this was originally written, I've updated this article to work with and applications are creeping in everywhere, starting with smartphones and tablets, to smart watches, and soon be found in other wearables, too.