What's the best way to start developing mobile apps?
What's the best way to start developing mobile apps?
Companies that want to develop a mobile application
themselves are facing a series of decisions.
Before embarking on the development of a mobile app, IT
teams and developers must first decide what kind of application they want to
develop and deploy. The IT department must also choose whether to run the app
on smartphones and tablets running Apple iOS, Google Android devices, or both
mobile operating systems; It can also support devices running Microsoft Windows
or even BlackBerry.
Many IT teams using mobile apps now use Mobile Backend as a
Service (MBaaS) for their infrastructural needs. MBaaS decouples the frontend
development from the backend systems. Effective MBaaS provides the services
needed to support applications throughout their lifecycle, integrating with
other systems, and managing security and synchronization. However, as with
other services, IT must ensure that it can integrate MBaaS with their existing
systems and that MBaaS supports operational processes without affecting the
management of desktops and applications.
Another consideration: Do you want to create native, web, or
hybrid applications? Native apps built from scratch for each mobile operating
system are generally more powerful than other operating systems and can take
full advantage of the built-in features of the mobile device. However, native
programming applications are more difficult and costly because developers need
to build a version of the application for each supported platform, often
learning new languages and systems.
Web applications are much simpler, cheaper, and faster to
develop than native apps. They are based on open standard technologies such as
HTML5, CSS, and JavaScript. This allows them to run on any device with an
HTML5-enabled browser.
The hybrid app is a hybrid of these two types of
applications. It uses open standard technologies, such as web applications, but
can take better advantage of the native capabilities of a device. The hybrid
app uses the same core code for all platforms, but for each platform, the code
is packaged into a platform-specific shell. This makes it possible to access
many of the device's native functions.
In mobile App Development, an IT team should consider the
users and the purpose of the app. For example, companies should invest more in
customer-centric applications than those that are only used internally. If a
web or hybrid application provides the necessary functionality for a given
workflow, it is not essential to invest in a native app.
Finally, IT teams and developers can also consider tools
such as MADP (Mobile Application Development Platforms) or Rapid Mobile
Application Development (RMAD) services to accelerate the development of mobile
applications. MADPs and RMAD tools provide end-to-end application creation,
deployment, and management software. However, for a company to use these tools
effectively, it must be able to integrate the applications into existing
systems easily.