Mobile Apps are Here! What's Your Strategy?

Author: Stefan Kyntchev

July 2009

Written by Stefan Kyntchev, Senior Consultant and Mobile Specialist, Strategic Data Systems.

The fast growth of “Smartphones” and “Mobile Computing” has received big media attention. Today’s mobile devices are powerful, popular, and relatively cheap --Apple recently dropped the price of the iPhone 3G to $99.

The nature of a mobile device is such that it’s always with us: it knows where we are, what we do, and sometimes, even who we are with. This rich environment and wide device availability provides a unique opportunity to target customers (and internal knowledge workers) at the right time with the right information.

Now the critical question to understand is:
What do businesses need to know if they want to extend their presence to these fast growing mobile devices?

The evolution of mobile devices has generally followed a similar path as the PC world, except the mobile world is much more fragmented. Here, there are six major platforms: BlackBerry, iPhone, Windows Mobile, Palm, Android and Symbian.

In terms of hardware and software, all platforms offer very similar capabilities: touch screen devices, web browsers, and support writing of custom applications.  

And also similar to the PC world, there are two major ways to develop applications for the mobile platforms.

The first approach is to develop a customized (mobile) version of a public or corporate web site. All devices offer capable browsers (most based on the open source WebKit HTML rendering engine made popular by the Mac’s Safari Browser) and they all support Rich Internet Applications (RIA) using AJAX.
This approach has several significant benefits:
•    There is nothing that needs to be installed on the device itself – every device with a browser is capable of reaching the web site.
•    The web site can be developed in such way that a single code base can support all platforms (with slight customizations for each).
•    You leverage existing web development tools, techniques and developer experience.

This is also the fastest and easiest way to establish a mobile presence.

The biggest disadvantage of this approach is the device needs a constant, reliable, and fast internet connection. Mobile devices use the same (frequently unreliable) cellular connection cell phones use.  Another disadvantage is because each application runs in the browser, it does not have access to device storage, location (GPS) information, or any other device-specific resources. (On some of the platforms Google has released a product called Google Gears that once installed on the device gives all Web

Applications enhanced access to some device resources such as local storage and location information).
The second approach is to develop a specialized application to be downloaded and installed on the mobile device.

The main benefit of this approach is the application can be used regardless if the device currently has an internet connection. Local applications also have full access to device resources such as GPS location, accelerometers, compass data, address book, local storage (think on-device database). And, local applications can run on the background.

On- device applications are also currently the primary way to “monetize” efforts on all mobile platforms as all major platforms offer a variation of mobile Supermarkets where such applications can be sold (ex: Apple App Store, Android Market, Microsoft Skymarket).

However, the biggest problem with writing device applications is a separate version of each application needs to be developed and supported for each platform.  Generally each platform has its own set of tools, language extensions, and development practices. This can require a separate team of developers to code and support the same functionality on each of the platforms you decide to target.

While developing device applications is somewhat similar to developing desktop applications, there are several specifics that have to be taken into account:
1.    Mobile devices generally have small screens, and are touch operated.
2.    Devices are only occasionally connected.
3.    Devices have generally slower processors (roughly about 10 times slower) than desktop machines. They also primary run on batteries.
4.    Devices run on various networks that may charge per MB downloaded so any data transferred over the network connection may cost extra money.

Which approach you take highly depends on the product or service you offer and how mobility fits in the long-term strategy of your company.
One point is clear – mobile devices are here to stay. Similar to the development of web applications, it’s just matter of time before mainstream businesses must embrace a mobile strategy to stay competitive. Which brings up another critical question: what’s your mobile strategy?

To learn more, please contact Stefan Kyntchev at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.sds-consulting.com. Strategic Data Systems specializes in agile application development and offers complimentary educational talks around mobile applications and other innovative IT topics.