Is mobile development process is more complicated with compare other development technologies? May be a mobile professional can answer this question well. We’ve seen a dramatic improvement in the technology, tools and SDKs but still follow the same fundamentals of Mobile App Development over the years. But what is it that makes it so problematic and why does a lay person assume it to be so easy?
The varying nature of mobile devices adds up to lots of difficulties for developing mobile apps. Firstly, the network connectivity issues, if your app relies entirely on one particular network. Data connections are transitory and are prone to failure and you’ll have to do a lot modification to deal with it.
Secondly, limited storage space leaving no space for your software to run, low battery life and many more. A major issue comprises of the design and layout of the mobile app which is solely dependent upon the screen sizes and orientations of mobile devices, majorly seen in Android Smartphones with hundreds of available screen sizes which creates problem in app development where major focus is on just solving bugs.
The app development faces major challenge in the OS part and segmented SDK version which is mostly seen in case of major app development platforms iOS and Android. It takes a toll on the development to make it compatible on old as well as new version of the system. Segmentation in mobile software and hardware versions is mostly seen in Android with over 12,000 different smartphone devices out there following the OS mix.
Lastly, the level of programming that goes into developing mobile software. Though SDK’s enhancement have left out the hard stuff involved in it but still it pays off the flexibility and freedom of a developer to use things like touch and swipe gestures, radio and accelerometer data, camera and video hardware. The management and changes between screens involved is not so easy. And almost every app needs to be eased which adds up the complications and need time equal to build a desktop or a web application. So a platform like Appcelerator is mostly used along with HTML and JavaScript programming to help developers for app creation.
With so many technical snags involved why Mobile App development is assumed to be a cake walk? A great Mobile App looks effortless irrespective of the effort put in by a developer. Comparisons are easy to make with great apps like Instagram, Paper, etc. but a lay person doesn’t think of the hitches involved while developing a Mobile App.
