With the seemingly un-wavering boom in sales of smart mobile handsets, the opportunity for developing and selling mobile applications more sophisticated than ringtones and games is ever more appealing. In order to gain momentum mobile applications need to have both the ‘mass' of appealing value for customers and the ‘velocity' of the most appropriate, rapid and wide reaching routes to market. But while the market is growing, it is also changing and evolving rapidly, with new concepts and technologies vying for attention.
There are many challenges facing software developers wishing to target smartphone users. Despite the enterprise success of BlackBerry, the cool presence of the iPhone, and the businesslike familiarity of Windows Mobile, these are not the only platform options for developers. Recent entrants such as Google’s Android, the return of Palm and old stalwarts like Symbian or Java plus other mobile platforms underlines the multiplicity of options. Even Linux is waiting in the wings, with handsets from the likes of ELSE almost ready to hit the markets.
There is also the difficulty of developing compelling applications on tiny screens with varied input options, low battery life, limited processor power and memory. This means it is critical to get an application that blends the right criteria for success: technical, commercial and those tricky to quantify user demands that will drive real adoption.
Recent Quocirca research investigated mobile application thinking, by interviewing 300 developers with an interest in mobile from across Europe in the Spring of 2009. Despite around two thirds of these developers admitting they are driven by ‘technical challenge’ and learning new skills, many are still interested in making money from their efforts, especially those with less experience of the mobile market.
