Why Handheld Application Development Can Be Hard
All the experts agree that handheld app development is more difficult than you’d expect. There are several explanations for this:
- Multiple devices to develop for: One of the first decisions to make is which handheld platforms to support. Is it better to limit yourself to the BlackBerry or should you target a larger set of handhelds? The device you choose greatly influences what your app can or cannot do.
- Radically different app models: Even if you limit yourself to one platform, often you’ll still have multiple app models to choose from. A BlackBerry developer has to decide between developing a proper BlackBerry app or a more generic Java Micro Edition (Java ME) app.
- Steep learning curves: Creating a handheld application can require learning a different programming language (like .NET) and/or a new set of programming tools (like proprietary tools). Since the market is so fractured, programmers often have a hard time finding relevant development help.
- Confusing database options: Unless you’re developing an browser-based app, you’ll need to store data locally, and there are so many options for doing so. If you have complex data needs may be best served by a complete mobile database. Simpler applications may be adequately served with simple data persistence options, but syncing that data with external databases can be quite harder in those cases.
- Prosumer versus large business targeting: While Apple has shown that there is great market potential serving the consumer market, there is still a lot of demand for business-focused applications. The two markets are completely different, however, and you can’t really target both of them with the same app.
- Significant startup costs: Mobile app development is not inexpensive. Experienced programmers are hard to find and cost a lot, and there are non-trivial expenses in terms of hardware and network charges.
Because of these difficulties you might wonder why anyone bothers to create mobile apps. The rewards outweigh the difficulties. The return on investment of a mobile enterprise application can be tremendous, especially for apps aimed at field personnel. The demand for mobile consumer apps means there’s a lot of profit for companies able to satisfy that demand.
You’ll save yourself a lot of headaches if you do your homework. If you want to write a good business application you’ll need to invest in great mobile enterprise tools. For consumers, you’ll still need great development tools, but you’ll also need a lot of flash and a simple user interface.
Succeeding at mobile app development requires a lot of thought and planning.