« »

3 Steps to avoid failure with your first attempt at smartphone app development on Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry – Whitepaper

Posted June 5th, 2010 by

Introduction

As a Platform Evangelist @ ScreamingToaster, I work a lot with of organizations that need help rolling out smartphone app development projects on Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry. We provide them with guidance, architecture recommendations, training, and implementation services. They tell me how mobile apps are crucial for their business to remain competitive, and we advise them on how mobile can empower their business. We also advise them on how to avoid the common pitfalls around mobile development in order to save them time, money, and political capital.

Based on a rough idea of what our clients are looking to get out of mobile, we create a mobile roadmap comprised of small, bite-sized steps that can be implemented incrementally and clients can pay as they go. We take a bite-sized approach not only with planning and implementation, but also with payment because we understand budgets are tight.

From our vast experience building mobile apps for all platforms, and training others on how to do so as well, we have developed this 3-step Mobile Starter Kit to help you get started on your mobile journey.

Here are the 3 steps that will ensure you avoid complete failure at your first attempt at smartphone application development on Android, iPhone, and BlackBerry:

  1. Start by learning the differences between the top mobile platforms. Avoid the common pitfalls that will ensure failure.
  2. Create a mobile roadmap to get results within your budget.
  3. Lastly, implement a pilot app to get started small and gain confidence and political capital.

How do you know if a platform is right for you?

The first step is for you to select the right mobile platform for your mobile initiatives. The following table outlines the major differences between the major platforms and can act as rough guidelines to help you match your requirements to the right platform for you.

BlackBerry Android Apple
It has the largest market share in US and worldwide.It is the best choice for building commercial and enterprise apps, because 50% of users commercial and 50% are enterprise.

There are virtually no developer resources for BlackBerry. Development is much more difficult than iPhone development and the cost is higher because of this. Also, graphics capabilities are severely limited.

BlackBerry’s strength is in multitasking, encryption, security, & manageability, which is a weakness for iPhone & Android. Lots of handset diversity (small to large screens, keyboard to touch screen). Devices have excellent battery life.

Apps are easy & inexpensive to deploy via OTA. BES and BlackBerry App World are also available, making this the most prolific and mature app distribution platform on the market today.

If you are considering building your app on multiple mobile platforms (iPhone, Android,etc) BlackBerry is the best platform to start with. ScreamingToaster provides implementation and training services and has a 100% success rate in app development.

It is the fastest growing mobile platform in the world, and will soon surpass iPhone, and BlackBerry in market dominance, and form factor variety.It is the best choice for building commercial and enterprise apps due to its vast adoption by developers, which is a result of it being completely open source.

It is completely open, there are no restrictions by carrier or handset manufacturer. You can build apps on Android that are simply impossible on BlackBerry and iPhone.

Apps are easy & inexpensive to deploy via OTA. Android Marketplace is a prolific and mature app distribution platform.

Android’s strengths include great multitasking, excellent graphics capabilities, lots of handset diversity (small to large screens, keyboard to touch screen).

Android’s weaknesses include lack of encryption, security, & manageability, and very bad battery life in general.

If you are considering building your app on multiple mobile platforms (iPhone, BlackBerry,etc) Android is the 2nd best platform to start with. ScreamingToaster provides implementation and training services and has a 100% success rate in app development.

It has the 2nd largest market share in the US. Graphics capabilities are excellent and there is a lot of support for development. There is no handset diversity, simplifying development and reducing cost.It is a bad choice for building commercial apps due to the restrictions on app deployment by Apple. Apps can only be distributed thru the App Store, and are subject to Apple’s tyrannical approval policy, and can be denied at anytime. It is the anti-freedom and anti-open source platform.

It is not an option for building enterprise apps due to its restrictive deployment model (only thru App Store and no OTA).

iPhone weaknesses include poor battery life, lack of multitasking (which is a non-starter for any compelling service-enabled application).

Success right from the start

We advise & guide our clients on things such as: the advantages & limitations of each mobile platform (BlackBerry, Android, iPhone), architecture, user interfaces & user experience design, and enterprise information integration (EII) and services orchestration for both B2B/B2E and B2C mobile apps. We also advise them on how to avoid the common pitfalls around BlackBerry (such as the total lack of support from RIM, OS proliferation & incompatibility) in order to save them time, money, and political capital.

All of this advice ensures their critical first mobile app is successful, which will give them the political capital to push the mobile agenda. We support and empower our clients every step of the way – from implementing their first application, to administering BlackBerry development training courses & post-training “mentor consulting”, to deploying their apps in the field. We are a solid partner our clients can bank on.

We provide a wide variety of mobile application development services:

We have done and seen it all. We set the trends for mobile, because we are mobile up visionaries. We are the leaders in mobile technology development. We don’t follow the trends and fads set by others, and we don’t make the mistakes made by others.

Avoiding common pitfalls that ensure failure

Many of our customers have tried and failed with mobile initiatives for various reasons, but are still committed to rolling out mobile initiatives because they believe mobile is critical for businesses to stay competitive. We save our customers lots of time and money by planning their mobile roadmap, and providing mentoring to prevent them from falling into the common pitfalls that cause their mobile initiatives to fail before they even begin.

Despite having invested a lot of money in BlackBerry devices and BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES), companies feel a real lack of support, straightforwardness, and resources from RIM. Many of our customers feel that RIM has “left them out in the cold” and was nowhere to be found once the implementation of their projects began. This is why companies look to ScreamingToaster for guidance, recommendations, and a roadmap to help bring their ideas and initiatives to life. We have a 100% success rate for consulting projects, and we always deliver on-time and on-budget.

Some of the most common reasons for failed mobile initiatives are:

  1. Lack of knowledge & understanding of the differences between mobile platforms – all mobile platforms are very different from one another, and each one has its unique strengths & weaknesses. Certain applications may be perfect for one mobile platform, and may not even be possible on another. Certain development skills may be necessary for one mobile platform, and may be counterproductive for another. For example: BlackBerry has significantly lower amounts of CPU, storage, graphics capabilities, and RAM than the iPhone. But, the iPhone does not allow for any multithreading or multi-tasking, and is highly insecure. There are fundamental development, deployment and management differences between platforms, which must be thoroughly discussed & understood before beginning any mobile initiative.
  2. Outsourcing Android or BlackBerry projects to iPhone/web developers – many vendors lie about their implementation capabilities and promise they can deliver mobile apps on many platforms such as, iPhone, BlackBerry (OS 4.5 and earlier, OS 4.6 and later), Android, WinMo, etc. Just because a company has built iPhone apps before, DOES NOT mean they have any Android or BlackBerry capabilities they are in any way qualified to build such applications. These three platforms have completely separate challenges, and knowledge of one of them does not translate to the others. We can build you BlackBerry and/or Android applications, and we’re the leaders in these technologies.
  3. Tasking an unqualified in-house resource with Android or BlackBerry smartphone app development – many developers are highly skilled at various types of development, such as: .NET, server-side Java, web services, PHP, Python, etc. But these skills do not transfer to mobile, and do not qualify them for Android or BlackBerry smartphone mobile app development. We can train your developers in Android, BlackBerry, and mutiplatform development with a wide variety of courses, tailored for different skill levels and different requirements.

A bite-sized approach for tight budgets

We understand that many companies want to start out with smaller “bite-sized” mobile initiatives to prove out the technology within their organization before spending large amounts of money and political capital on it. They especially feel this way because mobile is new. So, we take a bite-sized approach by creating a mobile roadmap made of many bite-sized steps. Learn more about how much smartphone mobile application development costs, so that you can create realistic budgets, and have realistic timeframes for planning.

After we successfully implement the first step in a customer’s mobile roadmap, they can see tangible success right away with a fully functional, deployable mobile application. Or, in the case of services creation, an immediate visualization of the services API. We also provide daily/nightly builds so our clients can see the progress we make each day.

After experiencing success right from the start, our customers get excited and feel confident that mobile is right for them, and that it is a crucial part of their business. They feel confident in us and in their mobile roadmap and are eager to continue to the next step.

Building a mobile roadmap as unique as your company

No two mobile road maps are alike. Some clients have the goal of using ScreamingToaster as their “outsourced” provider of mobile application development, with no desire to take on this task in-house. If this is the case, we’ll create a roadmap for a long-term sustainable partnership.

Some clients want to become self-sufficient as soon as possible and want in-house smartphone app development resources for Android, BlackBerry, and iPhone. We’ll create a roadmap that begins with us implementing an application for them initially (demonstrating an ROI immediately to build momentum), then transitions into developer training, and ends with our accelerator program. We will take care of your mobile application needs from start to finish with a customized mobile roadmap. We value long-term relationships with all our customers.

Let ScreamingToaster bring your ideas to life

In order to build engaging, relevant mobile experiences you will need experienced developers who can implement good ideas. We run a mobile application development consulting practice (for Android, BlackBerry, etc) and we educate our consulting clients on all the topics mentioned in this whitepaper, before they get started with their project. We provide Android Developer Training Classes for hobbyists, and professionals, and teach developers to create compelling mobile apps.

Why I’m qualified to write this white paper

I’ve got over 4 years experience implementing, supporting, and teaching Java based mobile, web, and desktop technologies. I specialize in Android, BlackBerry, and Google Web Toolkit (GWT) implementation and instruction. Here is a summary of my past experience:

  1. Implemented Java based mobile, web, and desktop applications, including Android, BlackBerry, and GWT apps. Some of these apps can be found here.
  2. Lead the ScreamingToaster Consulting practice: implemented consulting process document, generated new business, and managed day-to-day customer interactions for consulting projects. Assisted with the implementation of many projects.
  3. Designed user interfaces (UIs) and user experiences (UXes) for multi-platform cloud-connected mobile, web, and desktop applications. Designed all ScreamingToaster products, and all apps built for customers as part of the Consulting practice.
  4. Wrote whitepapers, articles, and blog posts for ScreamingToaster media sites developerlife.com and Drivelikeagirl.com. Created Izzy Tech Talk series of whitepapers on developerlife aimed at business leaders and tech savvy readers, and based on many years of experience as Platform Evangelist @ ScreamingToaster.

And my work isn’t confined to the office, coding away at my desk. I presented at the 2009 BlackBerry Developer Conference, where we were finalists.

Izabel

 

Comments are closed.