Mobile application development

Mobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for low-power handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications can be pre-installed on phones during manufacturing, downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms, or delivered as web applications using server-side or client-side processing (e.g. JavaScript) to provide an "application-like" experience within a Web browser. Application software developers also have to consider a lengthy array of screen sizes, hardware specifications and configurations because of intense competition in mobile software and changes within each of the platforms.^[1]

Execution environments

Android, iOS, BlackBerry, HP webOS, Symbian OS, Bada from Samsung, and Windows Mobile support typical application binaries as found on personal computers with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor (the ARM architecture is a dominant design used on many current models). Windows Mobile can also be compiled to x86 executables for debugging on a PC without a processor emulator, and also supports the Portable Executable (PE) format associated with the .NET Framework. Windows Mobile, Android, HP webOS and iOS offer free SDKs and integrated development environments to developers.

Platform development environment

Each of the platforms for mobile applications also has an integrated development environment, which provides tools to allow a developer to write, test and deploy applications into the target platform environment.

The following table summarizes the elements in each of the development environments.

Criteria for selecting a development platform usually contains the target mobile platforms, existing infrastructure and development skills. When targeting more than one platform with cross-platform development it is also important to consider the impact of the tool on the user experience. Performance is another important criteria, as research on mobile applications indicates a strong correlation between application performance and user satisfaction.

Mobile application testing

Mobile applications are first tested within the development environment using emulators and later subjected to field testing. Emulators provide an inexpensive way to test applications on mobile phones to which developers may not have physical access. The following are examples of tools used for testing application across the most popular mobile operating systems.

• Google Android Emulator^[2]

It is Android Emulator which is patched to run on a Windows PC as a standalone app without having to download and install the complete and complex Android SDK. It can be installed and Android compatible apps can be tested on it.

• Official Android SDK Emulator^[3]

It includes a mobile device emulator which mimics all of the hardware and software features of a typical mobile device (without the calls).

• eggPlant for mobile testing:eggPlant delivers a robotic solution to mobile testing across all operating systems and devices.
• MobiOne^[4]

MobiOne Developer is a mobile Web IDE for Windows that helps developers to code, test, debug, package and deploy mobile Web applications to devices such as iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and the Palm Pre.

• TestiPhone^[5]

It is a web browser based simulator for quickly testing iPhone web applications. This tool has been tested and works using Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2 and Safari 3.

• iPhoney^[6]

It gives a pixel-accurate web browsing environment and it is powered by Safari. It can be used while developing web sites for the iPhone. It is not an iPhone simulator but instead is designed for web developers who want to create 320 by 480 (or 480 by 320) websites for use with iPhone.iPhoney will only run on Mac OS X 10.4.7 or later.

• BlackBerry Simulator^[7]

There are a variety of official BlackBerry simulators available to emulate the functionality of actual BlackBerry products and test how the BlackBerry device software, screen, keyboard and trackwheel will work with application.

• ZAP-fiX for Mobile Application Testing:ZAP-fiX delivers a universal solution to mobile application testing across all operating systems and devices.
• SeeTest from Experitest supports all the major mobile platforms (iOS, Android and Blackberry). It enable element identification using Native / Image and Text recognition. And it comes with integration into platforms like QTP, MSTest, Java/JUnit, Python and Perl.
• Ranorex for Mobile App Test Automation supports object-based test automation of Android, iOS and Windows 8 Apps.

Tools

• eggPlant: A GUI based automated test tool for mobile application across all operating systems and devices.
• Sikuli: This is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images.
• Ranorex: Test automation tools for mobile, web and desktop apps.

Application stores

Several initiatives exist both from mobile vendor and mobile operators around the world. Application developers can propose and publish their applications on the stores, being rewarded by a revenue sharing of the selling price. Most famous is Apple's App Store, where only approved applications may be distributed and run on iOS devices (otherwise known as a walled garden). There are around 7,00,000 iOS Applications available till June 2012. With extraordinary speed Google's Android Market (now known as the "Play Store") counting (at the moment) the 2nd largest number of apps and which are running on devices with Android OS. HP / Palm, Inc have also created the Palm App Catalog where HP / Palm, Inc webOS device users can download applications directly from the device or send a link to the application via a unique web distribution method. Recently, mobile operators such as Telefonica Group and Telecom Italia have launched cross-platform application stores for their subscribers. Additionally, mobile phone manufacturers such as Nokia has launched Ovi app store for Nokia smartphones. What is more, some independent companies, namely Amazon Appstore, Aptoide and GetJar, have created their own third-party platforms^[8] to reach more users in different locations. The Windows Phone Marketplace is the fastest growing application store in history, with more than 100,000+ apps (including Xbox games) available as of 7-11-2012.

Patents

There are many patents applications pending for new mobile phone apps. Most of these are in the technological fields of Business methods, Database management, Data transfer and Operator interface.^[9]

On May 31, 2011, Lodsys asserted two of its four patents: U.S. Patent No. 7,620,565 ("the '565 patent") on a "customer-based design module" and U.S. Patent No. 7,222,078 ("the '078 patent") on "Methods and Systems for Gathering Information from Units of a Commodity Across a Network." against the following application developers:^[10]

• Combay
• Iconfactory
• Illusion Labs
• Shovelmate
• Quickoffice
• Richard Shinderman of Brooklyn, New York
• Wulven Game Studios of Hanoi, Vietnam

See also

• Daftar/Tabel -- digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
• Lazy User Model
• Mobile application management
• Mobile business intelligence
• Mobile computing
• Mobile Device Testing
• Mobile enterprise application platform
• Mobile games
• Mobile Marketing
• Multi-channel app development
• V&D Labs, Mobile App Development
• MoSoSo, Mobile Social Software
• On-Device Portal
• WURFL and WALL
• JQuery Mobile
• HTML5

References

[[Category:Mobile Application Development Life Cycle]]