MODULE: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING

TECHNOLOGIES- CC05

CHAPTER 8: Platforms and Additional Issues (as time allows)

LESSON 1: MOBILE APP DEVELOPMENT HURDLES

o Here are some unfeasible challenges faced by mobile app developer as a startup
founder.
o App Discovery- The fundamental aim of developing an app is to make
life simple, productive and pleasant. Keeping it in mind, creating an app
which gets noticed is a grueling task. There are a way more good apps
than there are successful ones, and that’s because many of the good
ones don’t get investment. App discovery is extremely concerned with
who are your users, what type of service they are expecting, their
financial background and many others factors. Make sure while choosing
developer team, it must be chosen gingerly.

o Development Approaches- Of course, the world isn’t small so the

field of mobile app development. There are numerous development
approaches i.e. Hybrid mobile app development (combination of native
app & web app) Cross platform native app (app can be available for two
or more platform like iOS, Android and even JavaScript, HTML5 etc)
Platform specific native app (made for particularly one platform).

Deciding development approach will decide framework & mock-ups, UI &

UX and many other imperative entities that mobile app is made of. So
user interaction is a total concern with choosing right development
approach.

o Investment Required - Once you have decided the development

approach, to develop your app in real, it requires ample amount of
money (to hire the developers in case of you don’t belong to
programming background). There is no one-time investment as after
completion of development, to bring a new variety of features and for
Iteration, adequate amount of money is necessary.

o DEVICE COMPATIBILITY - Our world is seemingly teeming with high-

tech mobile brands. Challenges you might face are inevitable i.e. screen
resolution, OS requirements, RAM and other factors and whether your
app works on a smartphone or specific tablet or phablet. The main issue
is choosing OS (either Android or iOS). For different OS you have to go for

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MODULE: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES- CC05

different SDK (software development kit), UI & UX, framework & Mock-
ups and different iteration processes. Your app should run on a latest
available version of particular OS as well as on an older version of similar
OS. The empirical solution is to develop an app for each different
platform available if you have enough investment. My personal opinion in
the case of selection of OS goes for iOS, though both OS have their pros
and cons.

o Performance vs. Battery - Parameters such as an app design, UI, user

interaction are important, but the main factors you should not forget are
Performance & battery consumption. If you can develop a good
performing, bug-free app which runs on minimum power, this challenge
can be overcome. Developer team has to be specific about choosing right
development tool (such as SDK) and be precise about device
specifications as well.

o COMPETITION - Once you developed an app, you need to launch it

into the app market, where as I mentioned before the gargantuan figure
of apps are launched every day. As a startup, the biggest challenge is to
stand out from the rest while creating an app. Even popular apps and
games developers are struggling hard to make their mark.

o ASO - ASO stands for App Store Optimization, is a process of optimizing

mobile apps to rank higher in the search result. Just like SEO (search
engine optimization for articles, images, and video content) is for
websites, ASO works for mobile apps. Better your ASO, the more likely
your app will reach thousands of devices. This is a most fastidious
challenge that people have forgotten about. It also includes an
imperative component of ‘App store rating’ & ‘App store ranking’.

o Marketing & Promoting - Last but not least, as a startup, you should
have precise knowledge about marketing and empirical way of promoting
your app. It includes PR & media plan, social & viral marketing &
internationalization of app which mean the development of an app that
enables easy localization for targeted audience, regions, and language.
You can put an app on the market in a weird but attractive manner that
attracts consumers. There are several challenges that you will face: a
crowded market, the same service provider as you, investment for
promoting an app and others. To simplify marketing for you there are
numerous tools like AppTamin, AppScend, MobileDevHQ, and Some
other you should know about.

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MODULE: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES- CC05

LESSON 2: TESTING

o HARDWARE TESTING - The device including the internal processors, internal

hardware, screen sizes, resolution, space or memory, camera, radio, Bluetooth,
WIFI etc. This is sometimes referred to as, simple “Mobile Testing”.

o Software or Application testing - The applications that work on mobile

devices and their functionality are tested. It is called the “Mobile Application
Testing” to differentiate it from the earlier method. Even in mobile applications,
there are few basic differences that are important to understanding:
o a) Native apps: A native application is created for use on a platform like
mobile and tablets.
b) Mobile web apps are server-side apps to access website/s on mobile using
different browsers like Chrome, Firefox by connecting to a mobile network or
wireless network like WIFI.
c) Hybrid apps are combinations of native app and web app. They run on
devices or offline and are written using web technologies like HTML5 and CSS.
 There are few basic differences that set these apart:

o Native apps have single platform affinity while mobile web apps have the cross-platform
affinity.
o Native apps are written in platforms like SDKs while Mobile web apps are written with
web technologies like HTML, CSS, asp.net, Java, PHP.
o For a native app, installation is required but for mobile web apps, no installation is
required.
o A native app can be updated from the play store or app store while mobile web apps are
centralized updates.
o Many native apps don’t require an Internet connection but for mobile web apps, it’s a
must.
o Native app works faster when compared to mobile web apps.
o Native apps are installed from app stores like Google play store or app store where
mobile web are websites and are only accessible through the Internet.

 The significance of Mobile Application Testing

Testing applications on mobile devices is more challenging than testing
web apps on the desktop due to.

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MODULE: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES- CC05

o Different range of mobile devices with different screen sizes and hardware
configurations like a hard keypad, virtual keypad (touch screen) and trackball etc.
o Wide varieties of mobile devices like HTC, Samsung, Apple and Nokia.
o Different mobile operating systems like Android, Symbian, Windows, Blackberry
and IOS.
o Different versions of operation system like iOS 5.x, iOS 6.x, BB5.x, BB6.x etc.
o Different mobile network operators like GSM and CDMA.
o Frequent updates – (like Android- 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, iOS-5.x, 6.x) – with each update a
new testing cycle is recommended to make sure no application functionality is
impacted.

As with any application, Mobile application testing is also very important, as the
clientele is usually in millions for a certain product – and a product with bugs is never
appreciated. It often results in monetary losses, legal issue, and irreparable brand image
damage.

 Basic Difference Between Mobile and Desktop Application Testing:

Few obvious aspects that set mobile app testing apart from the desktop testing

o On the desktop, the application is tested on a central processing unit. On a mobile

device, the application is tested on handsets like Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and HTC.
o Mobile device screen size is smaller than a desktop.
o Mobile devices have less memory than a desktop.
o Mobiles use network connections like 2G, 3G, 4G or WIFI where desktop use broadband
or dial-up connections.
o The automation tool used for desktop application testing might not work on mobile
applications.
 Types of Mobile App Testing:
To address all the above technical aspects, the following types of testing are performed
on Mobile applications.
o Usability testing– To make sure that the mobile app is easy to use and provides a
satisfactory user experience to the customers
o Compatibility testing– Testing of the application in different mobiles devices,
browsers, screen sizes and OS versions according to the requirements.
o Interface testing– Testing of menu options, buttons, bookmarks, history, settings,
and navigation flow of the application.
o Services testing– Testing the services of the application online and offline.
o Low-level resource testing: Testing of memory usage, auto-deletion of temporary
files, local database growing issues known as low-level resource testing.

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MODULE: APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT AND EMERGING
TECHNOLOGIES- CC05

o Performance testing– Testing the performance of the application by changing the

connection from 2G, 3G to WIFI, sharing the documents, battery consumption, etc.
o Operational testing– Testing of backups and recovery plan if a battery goes down, or
data loss while upgrading the application from a store.
o Installation tests– Validation of the application by installing /uninstalling it on the
devices.
o Security Testing– Testing an application to validate if the information system
protects data or not.
 Mobile Application Testing Strategy
The Test strategy should make sure that all the quality and performance guidelines are
met. A few pointers in this area:

1) Selection of the devices – Analyze the market and choose the devices that are widely
used. (This decision mostly relies on the clients. The client or the app builders consider the
popularity factor of certain devices as well as the marketing needs for the application to decide
what handsets to use for testing.)

2) Emulators – The use of these is extremely useful in the initial stages of development, as
they allow quick and efficient checking of the app. The emulator is a system that runs software
from one environment to another environment without changing the software itself. It
duplicates the features and works on the real system.

Types of Mobile Emulators

 Device Emulator- provided by device manufacturers

 Browser Emulator- simulates mobile browser environments.
 Operating systems Emulator- Apple provides emulators for iPhones, Microsoft for
Windows phones and Google Android phones

For more knowledge about this topic, please check the link provided
https://www.hokuapps.com/blogs/7-challenges-ios-mobile-app-development-changing-
technology/

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