— DEFINITION

Mobile Application Development

It is the process whereby software applications are created to be operated on mobile devices, using a typical connection of network. Therefore, this process consists of creation of software groups using the implementation of services and tools such as API to test whether they can be applied on the devices under consideration.

These maps create elaborate benchmarks to suggest the relationship between an organization and its customer over a period of time across various channels through which business interaction shall be done. Teams tend to take these maps as a means of understanding user experiences and expectations, observing them to work upon the areas of improvement.

Currently, there exist two major platforms in the smartphone market, of which one is run by Apple known as iOS whereas the other one is from Google and is known as Android. Whilst there are major similarities between the two, they have been in direct competition with one another. However, pertinent to note is that Apple is exclusively designed for its particular devices whereas Android is available for all companies to really benefit from.

In this essence, four primary approaches are used to build mobile applications:

  • Native Mobile Applications

    • Developed through a programming language on frameworks that are provided by owners of the platform; operated upon Android and iOS operating systems.
  • Cross-Platform Native Mobile Applications

    • Written in various programming languages with different frameworks, however, a compilation of native applications that are run on the device’s operating system.
  • Hybrid Mobile Applications

    • These applications are developed with the help of web based technologies – such as, HTML5, CSS, or JavaScript. These are often packaged as app installation packages. Hybrid apps usually function upon a ‘web container’ that offers to serve as a bridge for the native device APIs – in form of Apache Cordova and provides a good browser runtime.
  • Progressive Web Applications

    • An alternative mechanism to how applications are normally developed for mobile phones. It utilizes a composition of capabilities of the browsers including offline and background working as well as addition of link to home screen, in a bid to offer an experience as that of an application.