Unit 1.pdf

Introduction to Mobile Application  INTRODUCTION  As we have witnessed a revolution in the consumer space toward mobility, most analysts have identified that mobile devices are the major gateways to Internet as compared to desktop browsers.  Mobile device is replacin...

Introduction to Mobile Application  INTRODUCTION  As we have witnessed a revolution in the consumer space toward mobility, most analysts have identified that mobile devices are the major gateways to Internet as compared to desktop browsers.  Mobile device is replacing all traditional channels to access the information. To align with this trend,enterprises too are designing the digital applications to cater to wide array of mobile devices and platforms.  Mobile application development involves the process of developing the applications for mobile devices such as Personal Digital Assistants (PDA),  Native mobile apps are designed to run on a specific mobile platform, sometimes specific mobile operating system and supported hardware.  Mobile applications are part of main stream digital strategy for Business to Consumer (B2C) enterprises. Most of the enterprises are now adopting “mobile-first” strategy wherein the digital applications are designed, developed and tested for mobile devices; mobile users attain the primary focus in the digital strategy. Disruption in mobility space has major impact on the revenues for the enterprises. Mobile apps are shaping user experiences and are providing real-time information and offer more engaging experiences for the users. Mobility based digital strategy considers various things such as user experience, performance, interactivity, device form factors, device limitations,location needs and personalization.  Key Drivers for Mobile Applications The following are the key drivers of mobile apps: Innovation in mobile space such as proliferation of smart phones, higher bandwidths offered by 3G (Third generation) and 4G (Fourth generation) technologies are coupled with higher capacity storage technologies with higher speed chips would keep powering mobile devices. Consumer behavior: Customers are more used to mobile devices and is easy for them to access information on the move. Personalized content delivery: Enterprise can leverage the location and sensors to offer more contextualized, relevant and personalized content, offers and advertisements.  Mobile ecosystem: An explosive growth in Mobile Applications stores such as Apple store, Google Play store, Windows marketplace store was coupled with availability of games, utilities and other apps. Social Networking: With the popularity of web 2.0 and social media technologies such as Facebook, Twitter users are increasingly using the location based features in the social media platforms.  Mobile Apps on various domains Retail and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) Industry Banking industry Logistics Healthcare Social Media Gaming Video Streaming  Attributes of Mobile applications The following are the key attributes of mobile applications: Ubiquity: Mobile applications are always available and connected and enable users to access information anytime anywhere User friendliness: Mobile applications provide responsive and interactive user interface with essential information. They utilize the Location awareness: Mobile applications provide location sensitive information using Global Positioning System (GPS) and other sensors. Minimalistic: The content and features in mobile apps are minimal which are essential for the functionality.  CONSIDERATIONS AND CHALLENGES FOR MOBILE APP Intended utility of the mobile app Consumer engagement with richer user experience Productivity through efficient flows Driving incremental revenue through user stickiness Customer conversion User loyalty through targeted and personalized offers App Architecture Native vs hybrid vs web based on the requirements Middleware requirement for centralized configuration Offline vs online capability for storing data App Development Principles User experience through richer controls and interactive components  Compatibility on various devices and platforms Performance for each screen and task Security for data Productivity enhancement tools Target users  Main Challenges Diversity of devices and heterogeneous technologies: There are various mobile platforms and devices. The app should provide optimal experience in all the scenarios. Security: Mobile app should ensure data security during transmission and during storage. User experience: Mobile app should provide optimal user experience leveraging the device capabilities to provide highest engagement possible. Network: Mobile app should be designed to work in regions with network, latency and bandwidth challenges. Compliance to diverse standards, OS, mobile platforms and devices.  PC BASED APPLICATIONS Personal Computer (PC) based applications are software programs developed to run on specific operating system and hardware platforms. These were the pioneer applications that were used during the initial days of software development. There are mainly two types of PC based applications, namely- standalone PC applications and client server applications. 1.3.1 Standalone PC Applications Standalone PC applications are independent software programs which would run on an OS. These applications do not typically use network resources or support multi-user mode. Utility programs such as word processor, calculators,and media players fall into this category. Each of the applications had a good user interface for the PC user to interact.  Client server applications In client server applications, each terminal PC had a client software which is connected to a centralized server software. The client program would get input from the end user and would submit the details to the server software through a dedicated session established through the network. These applications were also referred to as “thick clients”. Database software, networked games, banking software, network file system are some of the examples of this category of applications.  WEB BASED APPLICATIONS Internet enabled applications that are mainly rendered on desktop browsers are categorized as web applications. Most of the modern web applications follow layered Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture which supports loose coupling and flexible modular components. The key layers of the MVC framework are shown below: Presentation layer (View layer): User experience components such as widgets, pages, User Interface (UI) modules, buttons, and forms are present in this layer. The UI modules will mainly render the view portion of the application. View components communicate with back end through services. Key components – Personalization Widgets Multi-device support. Page layouts Information architecture and navigation models  Business layer: This layer consists of business components which implement business logic and business rules. The layer mainly consists of rules engine, search, business objects, workflows, business process management (BPM), caching frameworks and other entities. All business modules expose services to presentation layer.  Data layer (model layer): This layer mainly consists of persistence handling components such as database access components, Data access objects (DAO), query components, Object Rational Mapping (ORM) frameworks and such. Web Content Management Layer Web content management layer consists of mainly following modules: Content authoring using authoring templates. Content tagging with relevant metadata and tags. Content publishing to various targets and in various formats. Asset management of various digital assets, documents and multimedia files. Workflow for managing the content approval, publishing and update processes. E-commerce Layer Ecommerce modules usually consist of modules related to catalog management, order management, modules for shopping cart, promotion, cross sell and up sell, and product information management.  Integration Layer/Services Layer The solutions use business service layer for integration with external system. Integration strategy is based on Service Bus Architecture, in which the middleware can act as a service bus linking multiple applications that require services of each other through a central service layer. The service bus becomes a point of data interchange and manages the communication with each peripheral application independently. Security Layer Security layer consists of modules related to authentication, authorization EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BASED APPLICATIONS  EVOLUTION OF MOBILE BASED APPLICATIONS The core features of the various stages of mobile app evolution are detailed below: Embedded systems: In this category, we has embedded systems such as calculators on various devices. The embedded systems had limited functionality. Device specific apps: The applications specific to the device are part of this category. For instance, device specific games and other utility apps fall into this category. OS specific apps: Operating system specific apps such as games, media players fall into this category. Cloud based apps: In this category, we have always available cloud based apps. Mobile App Vs Web App