Rather than merely devising a mobile application strategy, development shops need to view mobile apps as just one component of a larger, "omni-channel" application architecture, according to an analyst report released this month.
The Forrester Research report, entitled "The Future of Mobile Application Development," urges an omni-channel approach in which software services and applications work everywhere. Netflix, which works on tablets, mobile devices, TVs, laptops and game consoles was cited as an example.
Forrester stresses the use of modern applications requiring multichannel clients and elastic infrastructure. "To me, the modern app is something which is essentially designed for the cloud," Forrester analyst Jeffrey Hammond, a co-author of the report, said in an interview. "It's designed to connect those devices over public carrier networks back to those existing systems, which might be in the data center."
Software development for mobile devices is not just about adding Objective-C or JavaScript developers, Forrester says. "We're moving to a world of multiple endpoints, hybrid-use personal and corporate devices, and lightning-fast client device turnover." The report also charges that development shops have gotten complacent building MVC (model view controller) applications and the easy days for software development shops are ending.
Mobile context, the sum total of what customers are saying and experience in mobile engagement, is the future of mobile development, the report states. With companies targeting more devices and platforms, client-side development costs will increase, and applications will need to be built faster than ever. Reducing the costs of software innovation is necessary. "The only way to survive this Catch-22 is to lower the cost of testing new ideas and make it quicker and cheaper to separate the good ideas from the bad," said Forrester.
But the future of mobile application development requires more than adapting to smaller screens, different programming languages and new operating systems, Forrester says. "We're entering a new age of application development that creates modern, compelling systems of engagement and links them with systems of record and systems of operation."
