Reaping In The Benefits Of Mobile Application Developers

Over the past few years mobile computing has gained increased attention of the research community and has also made its way to the mainstream consumers and commercial industry through PDA’s and Smartphones. However, today more than ever these devices have the capacity to run standalone mobile applications and disseminate client-server applications that access data through a web gateway. This has further opened new channels for future mobile application and service development. For several years the mobile service development was generally monitored and managed by mobile network operators (MNO), content providers, phone manufacturers and other mobile application service providers.

In the recent past, this has changed with the advent of new mobile phones and platforms for instance iPhone.  Mobile app development has garnered greater interest amidst the independent developers. The ongoing development of hardware associated with mobile computing, for instance larger wireless network bandwidth, better computing power clearly improved capacities of mobile devices.

Mobile Application Development Focus Areas
Today companies specializing in  iphone application development have forayed into the mobile application landscape. These companies with their years of experience have profound knowledge and understanding of this vertical.

 Their focus areas include the following

· Location-Based Services (LBS)
·       Mobile Media Streaming
· Presence and Social Networking
· Messaging and Syncing
·       Mobile Advertising and Ad Engines
·       Mobile VoIP
·    Gaming

Services Offered By Mobile Application Development Companies

Modern day mobile application development companies havethe experience of working with top market players in the mobile landscape.

 Their innovative applications and support capacities can perform the following:

·         Setting up mobile applications in J2ME, BREW, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Mobile and 

BlackBerry
· Conceptualizing mobile applications and eliciting needs such as UI design, prototype, wireframes, user 

stories)
·         Designing, developing and QA testing applications
·         Porting mobile applications between devices and platforms
· Developing server-side and infrastructure, including for location and mapping services
· Incorporating third-party components on the server side such as SMS/MMS, billing, feeds, ads, content and 

so on                   
· Incorporating carrier, SMSC and billing systems such as LBS platform for location determination
· Coordinating with carriers and device manufacturers for mobile application testing and certification
· Distributing and launching mobile applications
·         Carrier catalogs and storefronts
·         Offers maintenance and product assistance services

 

Keeping in mind the modern day consumer demands today several mobile application developers have forayed into market with cost-efficient and secure applications that helps end users to navigatetheir mobile through useful applications.

Related Links:  advisoryservices, distributedagile development

Meet Product Development Challenges with Product Engineering Lab

Wikipedia defines product engineering as “the process of designing and developing a device, assembly, or system such that it be produced as an item for sale through some production manufacturing process.” Simply put, it includes the creation of the product concept and the design and development of its mechanical, electronic and software components. Thus, the product engineering process involves design, development, and transitioning to manufacturing of the product. It deals with issues of cost, quality, producibility, reliability, serviceability, performance, and user features that play an important role to make a product attractive to its intended market and thereby increase the profit margins of the enterprise.

With companies of all sizes are challenged to develop high-quality products, release new features ahead of the competition, and customize products for different languages, technologies and customer requirements – all while reducing operating costs and risks, product engineers have their tasks cut out. The following are some of their important responsibilities.

·         Define the yield roadmap and drive the fulfillment during ramp-up and volume production

·         Recognize and realize measures for yield enhancement, test optimization and product cost minimization

·         Provide DFM Design for manufacturability methods

·         Define a qualification plan and conduct electrical characterization analysis

In such a scenario, companies that lack a product engineering team or need to support a single product or entire product line must partner with service providers who can rapidly set up an offshore distributed agile development lab (PEL) that provide clients with full lifecycle R&D and support services, as well as proven processes and dedicated product engineering With the PEL engagement model, clients can easily fulfill its various requirements such as expanding its geographical footprint, consolidating captive product engineering labs, and accessing unique talent markets very easily. Here is a look at some of its distinctive features.

·         Organization-wide relationship with long-term contractual commitments and outcomes measured at the 

          CXO level

·         Well-articulated Year 1, 2, 3 strategy that is captured in a Build-Operate-Transfer construct

·         FTE-based, volume discounted pricing that is based on SLAs and a risk-reward framework

·         Tightly coupled with business stakeholders to achieve strategic alignment and loosely coupled with 

         operational architectures to foster creativity and drive value

An important advantage of PEL is that it frees enterprises to focus on their core business and engineering activities as the service provider takes complete responsibility for one or more R&D functions.

Thus with the PEL, companies can focus on their core competencies and at the same be assured that all stages of the software product development lifecycle, from product conceptualization to product extensions are carried out efficiently.

Related Links: software development

Mobile Apps Development – Interfacing Platforms and Devices

Today's  evolutionary world makes it vital for the enterprises to keep their environment in tune with the changing technology landscape. With technology becoming   more  open from the interoperability perspective, enterprises use  technology as a critical business enabler. Mobile phones which were initially developed for easy communication when on the move  have today evolved into devices that offer communications in various forms from text messaging, email, Internet access, Blue-tooth communications to business applications, gaming and photography and other  general computing capabilities.

With the development of  smartphones  the days of monolithic applications left behind. Technology has surged ahead today with  software applications as modular components. The  spectrum of new devices made available in the market paves way  for  customers to look forward to new applications that can be loaded on these devices to meet their ever-changing demands. The new technology landscape being a vibrant space full of opportunities, creating simple and effective applications while maintaining the need for safe and secure data access, mobile apps  development has  now become  a challenge for the mobile application developer.

Wikipedia defines mobile application development as - “the process by which application software is developed for low-power handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones". These applications which can either  be pre-installed on phones during manufacture or  can be downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms, or delivered as web applications  to provide an "application-like" experience within a Web browser.  However,with the exponential growth of the mobile market, and the availability of next-generation technology based platforms, the end-users today look for mobile applications with more processing power,  flexibility, reliability, security and ability to integrate  with other applications.

The leading service providers and IT giants have developed software tools and process to help the application development teams to  develop cost-effective applications  that can enhance e-commerce solutions. However, being focused on mobile apps development, the developers with an in-depth domain understanding work on areas such as Location-Based Services (LBS),  Mobile Media Streaming, social networking, messaging & syncing, mobile ad engines, Mobile VoIP  and Gaming.

The mobile applications developed by the leaders in the sector enhances the mobile ecosystem functioning by effectively performing the tasks such as

·         Developing mobile applications for various platforms along with quality analysis testing

·         Conceptualizing mobile applications and eliciting requirements of user interface design, prototype etc.

·         Interfacing mobile applications between platforms and devices

·       Developing server-side and infrastructure, including for location & mapping services

·       Integrating third-party components and carrier for SMS, MMS, billing systems

·       Coordinating with carriers and device manufacturers for  testing and certification

·       Launching and distributing mobile applications

·       providing carrier catalogs

Besides these tasks, the  mobile application development teams while working through with various layers of the mobile device, either directly or in collaboration with third-party providers also ensure  maintenance and product support services leading to  enhanced customer satisfaction.

Related Links: advisory services, product engineering

E-commerce Solutions for Increased Mobility

Technological evolution over the years has led to the development of business going global. As technology advanced further, the leading brands from various industry sectors turned to gain benefit from the trading across the continents through the Internet, leading to the birth of e-commerce. The growing demands from the customers have been the key reason for innovations and the constant evolution of the e-commerce trends and marketing strategies.

E-commerce provides enterprises scope for a wider market reach and an online retail store solutions for revenue generation. Thus enterprises with footprints on the web need to keep updated with the innovative software applications associated with the development of online businesses and their implementation. Today as the social media and networking are gaining popularity, enterprises can make use of the opportunities available to connect with consumers and share opinions on the products and services. A strong orientation towards social media marketing strategies ensures that the   e-commerce solutions as this will help enterprises reap in optimal results with huge increase of potential customer attendance and booming sales.

With this trend on the rise this seems as the most effective method for reaching out to the large number of consumers, and a great potential for generating new customers. However, with e-commerce trends are evolving continuously, the latest technology involved will help enterprises with an advantage over their competitors. With e-commerce provided customers the facility to shop from one’s own comfort zone, the latest mobile application developers have  helped  them to access the online retail stores from their new generation handheld devices and smart phones from any location.

The mobile apps development have facilitated the new age enterprises to engage in  business  transactions across the web, connect with their workforce, customers and suppliers irrespective of time and place. However, to avail the complete benefit of mobility provided by e-commerce solutions, enterprises must ensure that the  mobile applications are build to be intuitive and user-friendly, support heterogeneous mobile environment while being compliant with stringent corporate security  policies.

The e-commerce solutions  developed by the  mobile application developers have  revolutionized the  industry.  These solutions pave way for enterprises to manage their inventory  through the web , develop web portals for ticketing and event management, creation of online auctions with optimized digital content. Such access to the business environment and to managing the business comfortably irrespective of the time and space has made e-commerce a part of every organization's marketing strategy. With a number of distribution channels as well as payment channels in the form of mobile money transfer, mobile banking available along with the ability for exchange of goods enterprises both SME's and  large business houses can now witness a steep rise in their sales graph.

Related Links:  distributed agile development

Meeting Customer Needs with Product Line Management Services

The advent of  technological innovations has changed the technology landscape of the business environment. Today's software market with its  rapid transformation provides customers with cloud computing systems, mobile computing and consumerization of technology.  Further, the changes in technology also brings about demands for development of world-class software applications reshaping the industry horizon.  As a result software developers are continuously re-evaluating strategies and business models,  product line delivery channels and partnerships to ensure increased profits and a competitive edge.

A good way for enterprises to stay ahead of their competitors is to make innovations work on the similar product lines than diversifying.  A product line – a portfolio of closely related products with variations in features and functions,  rather than just a single product is what the customer-driven enterprises  target today. Product  line management  refers to the method of using  innovative marketing procedures to the existing product line and works as a powerful technique towards profit generation.  By managing a software chain and other allied products together, the enterprises ensure retention of their customers even with new products and services available in the IT market.

With enterprises driving towards maximizing profits, they tend to juggle between priorities such as maintaining current products or investing in new product range.  Sound advisory services can help enterprises take on these decisions based on  the technical abilities,  resources available, effectiveness of the process and the product lifecycle. Product line management relates to delivering products separately while maintaining a line of similarity.

The ever-changing customer demands and technological innovations facilitates development of new products. However, as new products or newer versions become available and are used by the customers, enterprises   need to eventually phase out the older versions or old products. As part of product lifecycle management , the end-of-life or end-of-service of any product is dependent on the economic requirements of the organizations, its business strategy to re-balance the resources or make products more cost-efficient. Leading service providers have developed software product line management services that can help the enterprises painlessly phase out the older versions of the products while maintaining the service bridge for end-users of the same.

Use of  product line management services benefits  enterprises in a number of ways. Besides  facilitating to manage the end-of-life initiatives of their products, it also helps to  reduce the costs in migrating to newer versions. Moreover, these services benefits the enterprises to maintain their revenue and profits of the product line, maintain end-user relationships through cross-market opportunities, reduces management issues, mitigates risks and eliminates the need to focus on product engineering and technical support.  With a focus on revenue optimization and modernization these services ensure enterprises have stepped up to retain their  customer.

Related Links: ecommerce solutions, distributed agile development

Faster Time-to-Market With Open Source Software Development Platforms

Software development is experiencing a tremendous change away from a fully closed software process towards a process that includes open source software in products and services. The significance of open source has been continuously increasing over time and most software products these contain at least some open source software components. Open Source Software, refers to software for which the source code is distributed without charge or limitations on modifications. Open source sells this approach as a business model, emphasizing faster development and lower overhead, as well as a closer customer relationship and exposure to a broader market.

Although the development of open source software is user-driven, users come together and form a group so that they can communicate ideas and to develop a new product feature. Prior to open source becoming extensively accepted, most developers and producers used a variety of phrases to explain the concept. Open source software development provides entrepreneurs a way to boost their probability of earning revenue quickly, mostly with little or no start-up costs. Senior managers of software development companies use open source to innovate faster, compete more effectively, and grow revenue. Open source software is mostly high-quality software. When you use the open source software, the source code is available. Most open source software are well-designed and can be can also be efficiently used in coding, making it the software a perfect choice for organizations.

Open source gained a huge boost and a wide round of applause with the rise of the Internet, providing access to models diversified production, communication paths and interactive communities. It promotes software reliability and quality by supporting independent peer review and rapid evolution of source code. Open source software development platform offers lower total cost-of-ownership, enhanced interoperability, faster time-to-market and technology transparency. It  also enables companies to access expert resources and components that accelerate the development and release processes.

Partner with a service provider who has the tools, processes and experience and advisory services that are necessary for your enterprise develop innovative open source software products quickly and cost-effectively. It must have a flexible stack of open source software development framework technologies that can be configured your business needs. The service provider that you choose must have the highest level of quality and deep commitment to ensure service excellence and deliver innovative, on-time and cost-effective open source solutions to businesses globally.

Related links: mobile app development, nearshore development services

eCommerce Solutions to expand Retails through Online Channels

The eCommerce markets have come a long way and today it is more than just the simple B2C and B2B shopping portals. The explosive growth of Internet accessibility and the widespread adoption of social networking have changed the eCommerce scene for good. In the traditional online shopping model, the customers were silent participants. However, in the new shopping model, the consumers actively participate in the marketing and selling of products. Hence, the global eCommerce market is growing steadily with Goldman Sachs predicting a growth rate of 19.4% by the end of 2013. As per Goldman’ latest reports, the U.S. market will witness the growth rate of 12.4% during the next three years to reach $235.3 billion in online retail sales. According to Imran Khan, the managing director of Goldman Sachs, “E-commerce is benefiting from several positive trends, including the continued roll-out of broadband, increasing user comfort shopping online and the decline of certain brick-and-mortar retailers.”

Besides social media and social networking, the advancement of mobile application technologies has also brought a new channel to the retail sector. This is because the proliferation of mobile devices and mobile applications has allowed customers to shop directly from their phones. With eCommerce becoming the next frontier in global expansion, there is increased competition in the eCommerce market. Hence, a great customer experience becomes the key to gain a competitive edge in the growing eCommerce markets.

Today the eCommerce arena comprises of online, social, & mobile commerce, web portals for specialized services, and interactive advertising, to name a few. Therefore, to ensure increased customer experience, there is the need of a sharp user interface, secure data management, a solid POS, rapid performance and the ability to handle large amounts of traffic. Hence, enterprises must collaborate with product development services expert who can provide eCommerce software product development services that are fast, reliable, and cost-effective. Here is a look at some of the eCommerce solutions that they provide.

·         Online storefronts, catalogs and shopping carts
·         Web-based administration products for managing inventory, coupon codes and gift certificates
·         Point of sales (POS) and payment processing solutions
·         Web portals for travel, ticketing and event management
·         Online auction engines based on open source libraries
·         Websites optimized for user content generation
·         Location-based shopping services for mobile phones
·         Robust, scalable platforms for digital content delivery
·         Next-generation ad servers

Though today eCommerce sales are skyrocketing, there is the need of innovative eCommerce solutions to gain maximum advantage. Hence, enterprises must collaborate with reliable eCommerce solution providers to expand retails through online channels.


Related Links:  product lifecycle management, open source software development