There are a number of options to undertake a successful mobile development, this presentation looks at some of the options available and testing strategy that can be adopted

1. How to define an effective mobile
development strategy
Mrinal Singh
mrinalasingh@gmail.com

2. Why is mobile important?

3. Use Cases

4. How to go about defining the
development strategy
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Go Native- Undertake development on each
device independently
Use Cross Platform Development Tools like
Phonegap, Titanium, Kony
Develop HTML 5 based mobile applications

5. Skill Set Required

6. Pros and Cons of these approaches

7. Native apps
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Native apps – When the need is to develop intuitive
application that closely integrate with specific hardware
features like Gyroscope
Pros- Flexibility to leverage hardware functionality, fast
response time
Cons- High cost if it needs to be deployed across a large
number of platforms

8. Cross Platform
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Cross Platform-
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Pros:
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Cons-
Build Once Deploy Anywhere, a number of
options exist depending on solution used which range from
native code generator to binary run times
Low cost of development if the mobile applications
needs to be deployed in a large number of platforms.
Difficult for developers of cross platform products to
keep pace with the fast evolving platform stack, so some lag in
features, with distributed devices its difficult to replicate the
same look and feel as native solution

9. Mobile Web HTML 5
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Mobile Web HTML 5- An emerging browser based scripting
language that is increasingly taking on features that once were
within the domain of data driven applications.
Pros-A good tool to deploy when you don’t need to deeply
leverage features of system. Also helpful to redirect users to
dedicated landing pages and workaround the limitation of
appstore
Cons- Still a nascent technology, sites like LinkedIn tried
moving towards this but migrated back to native application
because it still lacks the functionality that a native app brngs to
the table

10. Best Practice in Mobile: Tablet
Bigger Screen:
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Detailed information
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Viewing documents
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Graphical representation
Less Mobile than Smartphone:
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Less useful for ‘on-the-go’ activities
Potential:
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Less mobile device-less likely to be lost
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No alternate primary function (e.g. telephone)

11. Best Practice in Mobile: Smartphone
Small Screen:
Quick transactions
Usability becomes a key as much smaller landscape to
play around
Device Mobility:
Location based services- Because of near
real time access to user profile, contextual
advertisements and related services can be offered
Always on:
• Alerts, updates, sand real time offers etc. can be delivered much
more promptly.

12. Defining User Experience in Mobile
Platform
Key Drivers
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Device Portability
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Screen Real-Estate
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Tap-and-Swipe vs. Point-and-Click
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Device Security
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Reliability of Service
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Offline Caching
Potential Pitfalls
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Taking ‘online’ experience and shrinking it to mobile device
Not taking into account how people use different devices and
where they use them
Disconnected experience across channels

13. Looking ahead- Convergence is going to
be the key driver
Handheld
DevicesSmartphones
Tablet
Desktop/Laptop

14. Some Hypothesis
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Device Convergence
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Touchscreen laptops
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Smaller tablets
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Smartphones with bigger screens
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Touchscreen Laptops.
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Tabletization of Sites
Intelligent Websites that are device aware to provide optimum
experience.
‘Point-and-click’ to be replaced by ‘tap-and-swipe’
Migration from Desktop/Laptop like Experience to a converged
one
A closed feedback loop from Tablet apps.

15. Mobile Application Development Steps
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Business Process and Workflow Modeling
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Requirements Definition
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Functional Specification
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Data Schemas
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Screen Mockups
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Application Flows

16. How to define an effective mobile testing
strategy

17. Diversity in Devices
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Different platform- Each with its own interfaces,
programming language, standards etc
Every platform will need to have its own test cases, for
example different screen sizes, CPU and android versions
can affect the functionality of the application
New Innovation both in terms of hardware, eg retina
display in iPhone and access to hardware functions in
newer versions of HTML5 need to be taken into
consideration

18. Form factor
Indoor Use
Anytime, Anywhere, Always On
Data Entry though Keyboard
Complex Data Input Process
Seamless Interaction with Device
Large number of interruptions
possible

19. Dynamic Usage Scenarios
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Disparate usability norms across devices
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Some test scenarios still created based on PC standards
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Impact of small form factors on application usability
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Complexity created by gestures, multi touch and screen
rotation

20. Data and Connectivity Factor
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Application should be tested for different type of
data connection, for example, WAP, Bluetooth
and offline data storage.
Fluctuating connectivity could lead to un
predictable user experience
Service Providers frequently optimize data
speeds based on usage patterns

21. Security Risks
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Insecure Data Storage
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Improper Session Handling
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Weak Server Side Control
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Insufficient Data Security During Transport
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Data Leakage and Client Side Bata Breach
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Poor Authorization and Authentication

22. Testing Framework
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Identify the most critical function to test
Check the application flow in all the target
devices
Conduct Performance, GUI and Compatibility
testing using actual devices

23. Mobility is transforming enterprises, and its
no longer about whether its going to happen but
about when is this going to happen
Mrinal Singh
Twitter mrinalasingh
Skype mrinalasingh