Mobile application development

Mobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for small low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications are either pre-installed on phones during manufacture, or downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms.

Execution environments

Android, iOS, BlackBerry, HP webOS, Symbian OS, 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, 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 summarises the elements in each of the development environments.

Mobile application testing

The application is first tested within the development environment using emulators. Later it is subjected to field testing. Emulators provide inexpensive way to test the applications on mobile phones to which we may not have physical access. Here is a list of free tools for testing application across the most popular mobile operating systems.

• Google Android Emulator^[1]

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, and can be even installed and Android compatible apps can be tested on it.

• Official Android SDK Emulator^[2]

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

• MobiOne^[3]

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^[4]

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^[5]

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^[6]

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

Tools

• FoneMonkey: This is a free Mobile Application Testing tool for iPhone applications^[7]
• Robotium: This is an automation tool for Android Mobile Application^[8]
• Sikuli: This is a visual technology to automate and test graphical user interfaces (GUI) using images.
• Deviceanywhere: This is an automation tool for Mobile Application across all platforms, all devices.^[9]
• MITE: A Mobile content testing and validation tool for Mobile Web application.^[10]

Application stores

Several initiatives exist both from mobile vendor and mobile operators around the world. Application developers^[11] 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). 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.

Patents

There are numerous patent 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.^[12]

Patent enforcement

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:^[13]

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

See also

• List of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
• Mobile application management
• Mobile business intelligence
• Mobile computing
• Mobile Device Testing
• Mobile games
• Mobile Marketing
• android software development
• MoSoSo, Mobile Social Software
• On-Device Portal
• WURFL and WALL
• JQuery Mobile

References