What Every IT Manager Should Know About Mobile Apps
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This document discusses key topics for IT managers regarding mobile apps, including the tradeoffs between native and web apps, whether to develop apps in-house or outsource, options for hosting mobile backends, and strategies for engaging audiences. It notes that the mobile revolution has had a major impact through smartphones and tablets, and that sustaining user engagement for apps is challenging given the many options available.
What Every IT Manager Should Know About Mobile Apps
- 1. WHAT EVERY IT MANAGER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MOBILE APPS Jonathan R. Engelsma, Ph.D. GrandValley State University School of Computing
- 2. PADNOS COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING & COMPUTING • PCEC consists of: • School of Computing • School of Engineering • 1530 students total • Undergraduate and Graduate degree programs. 2
- 3. CIS UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS • ABET Accredited • Undergraduate Programs: • Computer Science • Information Systems • 550 Students • ~ 40 CS graduates annually • ~ 40-50 IS graduates annually 3
- 4. CIS GRADUATE PROGRAMS • Graduate Programs • Computer Information Systems • Medical & Bio-Informatics • ~ 80 students total • ~30 MS graduates annually 4
- 5. MOBILE APPS & SERVICES LAB • A multidisciplinary/collaborative initiative hosted by the GVSU School of Computing • Provides an environment that facilitates learning and discovery in the area of mobile technology. • Emphasis on collaboration and “application research”. More Info: http://masl.cis.gvsu.edu5
- 6. TOPICS • Overview / Motivation • The native vs. web app question • In-house vs. out-sourced development • Hosting your mobile backend • Engaging your audience 6
- 7. MOBILE IS HUGE! •Trillion $$ Industries •automotive •food / clothing •construction •banking •armaments •mobile Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html
- 8. HOW BIG IS MOBILE? •7B people on planet Earth •4.2B people brush their teeth •1.6BTelevision sets in use •1.2B PCs in use •1B automobiles registered and in operation •> 6.8B mobile subscribers on planet Earth!! Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html Source: http://www.chetansharma.com/MobilePredictions2012.htm
- 9. HOW BIG IS MOBILE? •Skype: 124M monthly users (34% of international calls) •Twitter Users: 550M (as of 5/2013) •Facebook Users: 1.1B (as of 5/2013) •4.2B people are active SMS users. Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html
- 10. MOBILE DISPLACESTHE PC Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/pc-sales-decline-188736/
- 11. “THE DEVICE FORMALLY KNOWN ASTHE CELL PHONE” 11
- 12. The Present Reality: Smart Phones and tablets are rapidly becoming the primary terminal device end users interact with, whether they be at work or play. 12
- 13. TOPICS • Overview / Motivation • The native vs. web app question • In-house vs. out-sourced development • Hosting your mobile backend • Engaging your audience 13
- 14. NATIVEVS.WEB? • Web App Advantages • one app runs everywhere • easier to develop • Web App Disadvantages • inferior UI • performs poorly offline • discoverability 14
- 15. NATIVEVS.WEB? • Native App Advantages • Superior UI • Preferred distribution model • Remains reasonably functional offline offline • Native App Disadvantages • Need to implement/maintain separately on each platform. 15
- 16. "The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting too much on HTML5 as opposed to native, it just wasn't ready." - Mark Zuckerberg, September 2012 16
- 17. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/html5-vs-native-apps-for-mobile-2013-4?op=1
- 18. APP DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE Native Apps Mobile Web Apps “Hybrid” Apps Android SDK iOS / xCode Visual Studio WinPhone HTML5 CSS Javascript SenchaTouch jQuery Mobile NimbleKit Titanium Mobile Rhodes Web app targeting handheld devices Framework that generates native code and/or uses webviews in native. Apps written for the native platform. PhoneGap
- 19. GO NATIVE OR NOT?? • Gartner’s “Rule ofThree”: use Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP) when: • there are 3 or more mobile applications • there are 3 or more targeted operating systems or platforms • they involve the integration of 3 or more back-end systems
- 20. SOME GUIDELINES • Economics are important, but be user centric (as budget allows): • If possible, go native for consumer or customer facing apps • Hybrid / Web approach should be considered when you have a “captive audience”, e.g. employee-only app. • Web vs. Hybrid: “app store” distribution is most familiar to end users today.
- 21. TOPICS • Overview / Motivation • The native vs. web app question • In-house vs. out-sourced development • Hosting your mobile backend • Engaging your audience 21
- 22. IN-HOUSE APP DEVELOPMENT • Developing apps in-house: What you’ll need... • Time:All of the native platform SDK’s involve a considerable learning curve. (Est. 3+ months to become productive) • Money: Savvy iOS/Android developers are earning six digit salaries a year or two out of college. • Strategy:Are your organization’s mobile apps to strategically important to leave to others? 22
- 23. TOPICS • Overview / Motivation • The native vs. web app question • In-house vs. out-sourced development • Hosting your mobile backend • Engaging your audience 23
- 24. MOBILE BACKEND HOSTING • Behind every interesting mobile app... • a non-trivial set of database backed network-based services • scaling agility • could utilize your organization’s existing web infrastructure 24
- 25. A NEW FORM OF CLOUD COMPUTING.... • IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and now MBaaS: Mobile Backend as a Service • Leading contenders: • Parse.com • Kinvey.com • www.stackmob.com • Kii.com • Google AppEngine (w/ client frameworks) Cloud 25
- 26. MBAAS: HOW IT WORKS • MBaaS Concept: • App agnostic cloud-based backend platform. • Easy to program client side SDKs. • Zero server-side programming required! 26
- 27. MBAASTRADEOFFS • MBaaS Advantages • Minimal effort mobile backend • All the typical benefits of cloud- based solutions. • MBaaS Disadvantages • Challenges integrating with existing backends. • Entrusting a third party with your data. 27
- 28. TOPICS • Overview / Motivation • The native vs. web app question • In-house vs. out-sourced development • Hosting your mobile backend • Engaging your audience 28
- 29. THERE’S AN APP FORTHAT... Source: http://www.pureoxygenmobile.com/how-many-apps-in-each-app-store/ 29
- 30. THERE’S AN APP FORTHAT... Attracting and sustaining user engagement is becoming increasingly difficult endeavor! 30
- 32. MOBILE GAMIFICATION gamification: definition: the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems Source: http://www.wikipedia.org Gamification is one technique being used to encourage sustained engagement. 32
- 33. GAMIFICATION EXAMPLE • How do you get people to annotate useful info while on the road? • Waze:“social gps” turns it into a game with points/leaderboards. 33
- 34. SUMMARY • The mobile revolution is BIG, and is having a significant impact on how/when enterprise users access IT systems/services. • Web vs. Native apps = “it depends” • In-house app development involves a substantial commitment. • End mobile users have a lot of options. Sustained end user engagement requires more effort and different approaches than traditional front-end systems. 34
- 35. THANKYOU!! • A copy of this presentation is available on slideshare.net: • http://www.slideshare.net/jonathanengelsma • Email: Jonathan.Engelsma@gvsu.edu • Twitter: @batwingd • Web: http://themobilemontage.com