by Tracy Pesin, @tracypesin

1. Mobile & Me
@tracypesin
Thursday, October 18, 12

2. Mobile is big
Thursday, October 18, 12

3. • 75% of people worldwide have access to a
mobile phone
• More than half of all US cellphones are
smartphones
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4. iOS Android RIM Windows Phone
4%
10%
iOS
34%
Android
53%
US Smartphone market share, July 2012
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5. • 400 million iOS devices sold
• A million new Android users each day
• 700,000 apps in Apple App Store, almost as
many in Google Play (Android)
• 30 billion iOS downloads, 25 billion Android
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6. “Now we are a mobile
company”
Mark Zuckerburg, September 2012
Thursday, October 18, 12

7. • Should I get into developing mobile apps?
• And if so, on which platform?
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8. bitly
“The new way to bookmark,
organize, and share the things
you care about online.”
Thursday, October 18, 12

9. MLB.com
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10. Vindigo
Launched in 2000
First mobile local search app
Sync before you go!
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11. 2002:
BREW vs J2ME
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12. BREW
• Proprietary, native (C-language based)
• Close integration of hardware and software
• Closed system to distribute apps
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13. iOS
• Proprietary, native (C-language based)
• Close integration of hardware and software
• Closed system to distribute apps
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14. J2ME
• Java language, runs in VM
• More open app distribution system (apps can
be downloaded through a link)
• Less consistent device capabilities, screen sizes
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15. Android
• Java language, runs in VM
• More open app distribution system (apps can be
downloaded through a link)
• Less consistent device capabilities, screen sizes
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16. Can’t we just
put it on the
mobile web?
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17. Can’t we just
put it on the
mobile web?
Maybe but it might
be sloooooww
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18. Recurring themes...
• Open application ecosystem vs closed
• Integrated hardware vs OS portability
• Native vs Web
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19. Open vs Closed
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20. iOS: Closed source
• Developer only sees header files of Apple
libraries
• Makes debugging tough
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21. Android: Open Source
• Can step through platform code if you have
an issue
• But... manufacturer modified versions slow
to update
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22. Inter-app communication
<intent-filter>
<action android:name="android.intent.action.SEND" />
<data android:mimeType="image/*" />
<category android:name="android.intent.category.DEFAULT" />
</intent-filter>
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23. iOS: Pseudo-multitasking
• System “freezes” apps, restores state
• Apps can only update their data in
background once a day
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24. Android: True multitasking
• Apps and services can run in
background
• Downside: performance, battery life
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25. iOS: All apps reviewed by Apple
• Submit, cross fingers, pray to the Apple
gods
• Can take weeks to fix bugs
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26. “We view Apps different than books or songs,
which we do not curate. If you want to criticize a
religion, write a book. If you want to describe sex,
write a book or a song, or create a medical App.”
“If your App is rejected, we have a Review Board
that you can appeal to. If you run to the press and
trash us, it never helps.”
- App Store Review Guidelines
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27. Open vs Closed
App distribution: iOS
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28. Android: No review process
• Fix bugs as they happen
• Apps can be downloaded via a link in a web
page
• Downsides: Piracy, Security
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29. Integrated hardware/
software vs portability
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30. iOS: Integrated hardware
• C/C++/Objective-C compiled to machine
language
• Static memory management (no garbage
collection)
• Automatic hardware acceleration for
graphics
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31. Before ARC
Thingie *aThingie = [[Thingie alloc] init];
self.myThingie = aThingie;
[aThingie release];
ARC
self.myThingie = [[Thingie alloc] init];
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32. Android: Portable
• Java
• Garbage collected
• Can (and does) run on different processors
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33. iOS: Minimal app porting
• iPad
• Retina display
• iPhone 5
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34. Android: Device fragmentation
• Galaxies and HTCs and Droids oh my!
• Different screen sizes, multimedia codecs,
etc
• Big changes (like dropping the menu
button) are the developer’s problem
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35. Integration vs Portability
Device fragmentation: Android
9%
7%
As of June 2012
19% 2.3 (Dec 2010)
2.2 (June 2010)
65% 4.0 (Oct 2011)
Other
Manufacturer customized OS == SLOW upgrades
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36. Why I chose iOS
• Deep, layered libraries with (generally)
great documentation
• Great toolset (though devs will always
complain)
• Minimal porting means more time on
features!
• Most companies still start iOS first
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37. Native vs Web: Do we
even need an app?
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38. “All of our developers are good at HTML. Only a
few of them are really good at Objective-C and
Android. ”
- Facebook Mobile Engineering Manager
September 2011
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39. "The biggest mistake we made as a
company was betting too much on HTML5
rather than native...
It turns out, ‘good enough’ wasn’t good
enough.”
- Mark Zuckerburg
September 2012
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40. Happy hybrids
• Not either/or!
• Can make some views web, others native
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41. Web-friendly views
• New or temporary features
• Dynamically formatted, server-driven
content (er, HTML)
• Less performance intensive
• Leave the chrome native if possible
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42. Some tools for hybrid
apps
• PhoneGap
• Titanium
• jQuery mobile
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43. Thanks for listening!
@tracypesin
tracy.pesin@gmail.com
http://bit.ly/lwcMobile
Thursday, October 18, 12