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Trends in Mobile Application Development
- February 27, 2015
- Posted by: Admin
- Category: Blogs, Mobile Development
Smartphones and mobiles have come a long way since the turn of the decade. With technology and design advancing at an unprecedented rate, mobile application development has come a long way as well. In fact, with each passing day, there is more development and expansion in the mobile development domain than in any other industry domain. There are three types of mobile applications, native, hybrid, and HTML5:
Native apps: Native apps are platform-specific. For example, if you want to create an app that will run on an Android platform, you will need to code using Java and Eclipse. On the other hand, if your app intends to run in iOS, you will need Objective-C on an Xcode environment. Native apps generally have a rich and responsive user interface and perform the fastest. These apps are also widely distributed in the appstore. Native apps can seamlessly access in-built features of a mobile, such as, GPS, camera, address book, etc.
On the flip side, for an inexperienced developer, creating a native app is no less than conquering Mount Everest. With all the APIs and native frameworks required to build and run code on a native IDE, developers often find the steep learning curve required very difficult to develop a native app.
HTML5 mobile apps: HTML5 mobile apps are generally web pages interlinked to display on screens of any size. These apps are device-independent and can be opened in any mobile browser. Due to the usage of HTML5 to build these apps, the learning curve for any developer is much lower than that of native apps. HTML5 has worldwide support; therefore debugging an HTML5 app is easier and flexible.
On the flip side, HTML5 apps face a perennial issue with browser compatibility (or lack thereof). Also storage and security considerations make HTML5 apps less appealing for developers.
Hybrid apps: Hybrid apps combine features of both native and HTML5 app development features. A hybrid app is an HTML5 app wrapped in a native container with access to native mobile features. A developer can code the app using HTML and not worry about the native features. While a hybrid app combines the best of native and HTML5 apps, device compatibility remains a bone of contention in the tech community.
Future Mobile Development Trends
Over the past few years, mobile development has exploded beyond everyone’s wildest dreams. Here are some trends to look for in the not too distant future:
Security – Enterprise security will become the order of the day as developers will build apps that will withstand the most robust intrusion and brute force attacks from unknown sources. More emphasis will be laid on SSL certificates especially when creating apps for banking and financial institutions.
Cloud – To connect incongruent apps, developers will use the cloud to assimilate the front-end with back-end services. This approach will enable developers to focus more on the user interface aspects of the app while letting the back-end take care of services like push notifications and geolocation features.
More API Integration – With the recent developments in the cloud, location intelligence, and big data analytics, developers will embrace REST APIs to seamlessly integrate mobile applications. Stateless APIs like REST APIs will make it easier for developers to create next generation web services.
Legacy applications – As the number of mobile users are growing exponentially, legacy, and mainframe applications are gradually shelved out of market. Increased adoption of mobile apps has already pushed legacy applications to a distant second.
Location– Advertising and push notifications geotargeted to a user have already gathered momentum. Location-based offers and shopping deals have created a new breed of mobile audience. In the future, Near Field Communications (NFC) will enable more targeted penetration in the m-Commerce arena.
Client Says
We are implementing Plasma Ag Solutions across our network of locations. Plasma Ag provides several capabilities that stand out for our users such as Programs, Rebate management, and Inventory tracking. It is quite difficult to track margin information on crop protection products in our industry so our Owner Operators love the transparency the system provides. We utilize the system to professionalize our support to the network and it has become a bit success with all of them.
Several hundreds of our retail locations and joint ventures use Plasma Ag solutions as a part of their core operations. Plasma solutions provide very useful tools and deep insights to users – including tracking customer transactions and financial information. Their applications are tightly integrated with CRM, ERP, Accounting, and our other mission critical IT infrastructure and third-party systems. The dashboards provide rich analysis and insights that helps us adjust to the changing markets.
Plasma Ag solutions have been a tremendous asset to our operations. They offer powerful capabilities such as managing Retail programs, Products, Programs, local discounts, and wraps. Ability to track inventory at physical locations, calculating true and average costs, rebates and accruals on user-friendly and simple interfaces has helped us and our retail customers adopt Plasma Ag solutions quickly.
Our software, system and processes used to be an old struggling engine. Plasma team solved all that. With exceptional training and planning, their consultative executive team down to their support team executed the deployment with first-class speed and professionalism. Their platform not only removed all the pain points in my division, but also created a ripple effect benefiting my entire company.
It has been my experience that Plasma has the technical expertise, commitment, and work-ethic to deliver best-in-class solutions that allow business owners to fully realize business strategies and objectives. They work in a highly professional manner to ensure that the clients’ requirements and recommendations are fully realized. I would highly recommend Plasma for any web enablement initiative that you may be considering.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us as our online business partner. I don’t even consider our work with them outsourcing because Plasma management takes the time to truly understand our business and is able to direct its technology resources for the most efficient and quality output possible. I don’t think you can say that about many companies in their space.
Plasma has been a smart choice for us with our online requirements. I would recommend them to any company looking to better manage their online presence.
It has been my pleasure to work with the Plasma Team since August 2008. We have completed three major builds and multiple smaller projects in this time. I heartily recommend Plasma Comp to anyone needing a workable, practical and effective system solution. Plasma’s Q&A process was extremely thorough. They quickly understood what was needed and then worked the process with pointed and penetrating questions to ensure they had the entire picture of the finished product.
I think Plasma has come a long way in embracing our philosophy of becoming more agile, both leading and following in this area when necessary. The teams have been very open to change and have a great attitude. I have no complaints!
Plasma is a great vendor to work with. They took us from an email-based process to a fully designed, web-based workflow. They have dramatically changed how our devices are certified to be used on our network and they will save you time as well! One of the many processes in our current environment has saved us so much time; from four months down to a few days!
