Mobile Application Development PDF

MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT  INTRODUCTION The digital world is currently witnessing a tremendous development in the number of applications that have become more widespread and used by smartphone users, due to their ease of use and providing many services and benefits. ...

MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT  INTRODUCTION The digital world is currently witnessing a tremendous development in the number of applications that have become more widespread and used by smartphone users, due to their ease of use and providing many services and benefits. WHAT IS MOBILE APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT? Mobile application development is the process of making software for smartphones, tablets and digital assistants, most commonly for the Android and iOS operating systems. A mobile application is any icon you can find on your mobile screen. Time, Calculator, notebook, Settings are example of gadget turned into apps for mobile devices. MOBILE APPS: BUSINESS PERSPECTIVE Reaching to more users Growing number of smartphones Increasing affordability of smartphones Increasing mobile internet speed and quality Catching users in more engaging way Better sales conversion rate Better collection of user’s contextual data Ease of use: Better productivity Around 80% of rural users access the internet from their mobile handsets MOBILE APPS: USER PERSPECTIVE Ease of use One device works for every thing Health Shopping Communication Entertainment Low cost Longer battery life Relatively much easier learning curve MOBILE APPS: DEVELOPER PERSPECTIVE Multiple Platforms Different screen sizes Screen density User interaction Limited hardware resources Sensors Integration with Phone functions  MOBILE APPLICATION PLATFORMS EXAMPLES. iOS iOS, an operating system from Apple, was originally developed for the iPhone. Later it was extended to support iPod Touch, iPad and Apple TV. Apple’s App Store contains more than 500,000 applications and boasts more than 25 billion downloads collectively. It holds the reputation of intelligent UI creator which is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Android Android is a Linux based mobile operating system developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Android boasts large community of developers writing applications extending the functionality of the devices. It has 450,000 apps in its Android Market and download exceeds 10 billion counts  TYPES OF MOBILE APPLICATION 1. Native Apps: Apps that are develop for a single operating system; An Application developed for Android Operating system can’t work on the iPhone Operating system while that which is develop for iPhone can’t work on Android Operating System. 2. Web Apps Applications that are run on browser they bookmarked through installation by users, they also possess the characteristics of a native app 3. Hybrid Apps They are built using multi-platform web technologies (for example HTML5, CSS and JavaScript). So-called hybrid apps are mainly website applications disguised in a native wrapper. Apps possess usual pros and cons of both native and web mobile applications PHASE 1. STRATEGY The first step of the mobile app development process is to produce a strategy to determine how your business can improve through a mobile app. How will your customers benefit? How will your employees or business partners? In this phase, you will: Define your app’s purpose Identify your app’s audience Research the competition Establish the app’s goals and objectives PHASE 2. ANALYSIS AND PLANNING At this stage, Analysis and planning begin with defining use cases and capturing detailed functional requirements. Then, prepare a product roadmap. This includes prioritizing mobile app requirements and grouping them into delivery milestones. As time, resources and costs are often a concern, define your minimum-viable-product (MVP) and prioritize this for the initial launch. identifying the skills needed for your app development initiative. Mobile app names are like domain names and must be unique within each app store. Research each app store to ensure your app’s name isn’t already in use. PHASE 3. UI / UX DESIGN ❖Interaction between user and computer User Experience User Experience is the backbone of any application. An app defines how a user feels and think about your business and services. It is about making something valuable, easy to use and effective for your target audience. Don’t make your app confusing or complicated. User interface UI The application interface design process depends on achieving balance and harmony between its elements, including colors, images, and control elements such as labels, text boxes, and buttons. The application design process is no less important than its programming, as the application interface is what the user sees and interacts with when using the application The success of your mobile app will depend on how well users adopt and benefit from its features. The goal for mobile app UI and UX design is to create excellent user experiences, making your app interactive, intuitive, and user-friendly. While polished UI designs will help with early adoption, your app must have intuitive user experiences to keep app users engaged. PHASE 4. MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT Before actual development/programming efforts start, you will have to: Define the technical architecture, Pick a technology stack, and Define the development milestones. “There is more than one programming language and technology stack for building mobile apps – the key is to pick the technology stack that is best suited for your mobile app.” Mobile apps have three main components: The back end encompasses the databases and server technology that determine the app’s performance and scalability. The application programming interface (API) is the language or communication method your app will use to interact with the back end. The front end is where you program and code the user interface; it’s everything users see and interact with inside the app. PHASE 5. APPLICATION TESTING Functional testing: makes sure the app’s features and functions work as intended. Performance testing: assesses the app’s speed, responsiveness, and ability to scale – will the app still be at its peak performance when many or all of your customers start using it? User experience testing: ensures the app is user-friendly. Security testing: validates that your app will protect users and data from cyberattacks. Device and platform testing: makes sure your app will work properly on the intended operating systems and mobile devices. PHASE 6. DEPLOYMENT & SUPPORT Get ready for the most exciting milestone: your app launch! Successfully deploying your app involves two crucial steps. First, you’ll deploy into a cloud-based production environment so your app can perform and scale as its user base grows. Second, you’ll submit your mobile apps to the appropriate app stores. Inspect, iterate, support and improve Your work isn’t finished yet! It’s vital to monitor and track your app’s performance after launch, and continue developing based on crash reports, analytics, and user feedback. You’ll uncover new ways to improve, and those improvements will set in motion parts of the development process all over again. This iterative process, and the data you gather along the way, will helping you create an improved version of your app that offers a better user experience and deeper customer engagement.  MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT COST Many factors influence the final cost. Some key factors that influence the price include: App type: Building a native app customized to a single platform is typically more expensive than building a platform-neutral web app. Schedule: Generally speaking, the faster you need the app, the higher the cost. Design: Using customizable design templates can be a cost-saving approach to build both simple and sophisticated apps. Complexity: Building in a full slate of features — from collecting user data to integrating with hardware like cameras — comes at a price. Simpler solutions are oftentimes cheaper. Choice of partner: Enterprise software experts can help mitigate the risk of unforeseen expenses by providing the infrastructure and expertise to support your goals. Methodology: Waterfall development and Agile development are two common approaches to software development, each with different pricing implications. Waterfall projects have a clearly defined scope that allows companies to estimate upfront costs. Agile projects can result in a better final product, but the associated costs are unpredictable — and often higher. Maintenance: Upfront costs are just one piece of the puzzle. Consider ongoing costs like hosting, monitoring, marketing, and updates; all of which help maintain and improve the app you’ve worked hard to create. END OF CHAPTER