This document discusses key topics for IT managers regarding mobile apps, including the tradeoffs between native and web apps, whether to develop apps in-house or outsource, options for hosting mobile backends, and strategies for engaging audiences. It notes that the mobile revolution has had a major impact through smartphones and tablets, and that sustaining user engagement for apps is challenging given the many options available.

1. WHAT EVERY IT MANAGER
SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
MOBILE APPS
Jonathan R. Engelsma, Ph.D.
GrandValley State University
School of Computing

2. PADNOS COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING & COMPUTING
• PCEC consists of:
• School of Computing
• School of Engineering
• 1530 students total
• Undergraduate and
Graduate degree programs.
2

3. CIS UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS
• ABET Accredited
• Undergraduate Programs:
• Computer Science
• Information Systems
• 550 Students
• ~ 40 CS graduates annually
• ~ 40-50 IS graduates annually
3

4. CIS GRADUATE PROGRAMS
• Graduate Programs
• Computer Information
Systems
• Medical & Bio-Informatics
• ~ 80 students total
• ~30 MS graduates annually
4

5. MOBILE APPS & SERVICES LAB
• A multidisciplinary/collaborative
initiative hosted by the GVSU
School of Computing
• Provides an environment that
facilitates learning and discovery in
the area of mobile technology.
• Emphasis on collaboration and
“application research”.
More Info: http://masl.cis.gvsu.edu5

6. TOPICS
• Overview / Motivation
• The native vs. web app question
• In-house vs. out-sourced development
• Hosting your mobile backend
• Engaging your audience
6

7. MOBILE IS HUGE!
•Trillion $$ Industries
•automotive
•food / clothing
•construction
•banking
•armaments
•mobile
Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html

8. HOW BIG IS MOBILE?
•7B people on planet Earth
•4.2B people brush their teeth
•1.6BTelevision sets in use
•1.2B PCs in use
•1B automobiles registered and in operation
•> 6.8B mobile subscribers on planet Earth!!
Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html
Source: http://www.chetansharma.com/MobilePredictions2012.htm

9. HOW BIG IS MOBILE?
•Skype: 124M monthly users (34% of international calls)
•Twitter Users: 550M (as of 5/2013)
•Facebook Users: 1.1B (as of 5/2013)
•4.2B people are active SMS users.
Source: http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/brands/2011/02/all-the-numbers-all-the-facts-on-mobile-the-trillion-dollar-industry-why-is-google-saying-put-your-b.html

10. MOBILE DISPLACESTHE PC
Source: http://www.androidauthority.com/pc-sales-decline-188736/

11. “THE DEVICE FORMALLY KNOWN
ASTHE CELL PHONE”
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12. The Present Reality: Smart Phones and tablets are
rapidly becoming the primary terminal device end users
interact with, whether they be at work or play.
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13. TOPICS
• Overview / Motivation
• The native vs. web app question
• In-house vs. out-sourced development
• Hosting your mobile backend
• Engaging your audience
13

14. NATIVEVS.WEB?
• Web App Advantages
• one app runs everywhere
• easier to develop
• Web App Disadvantages
• inferior UI
• performs poorly offline
• discoverability
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15. NATIVEVS.WEB?
• Native App Advantages
• Superior UI
• Preferred distribution model
• Remains reasonably functional
offline offline
• Native App Disadvantages
• Need to implement/maintain
separately on each platform.
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16. "The biggest mistake we made as a company was betting
too much on HTML5 as opposed to native, it just wasn't
ready."
- Mark Zuckerberg, September 2012
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17. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/html5-vs-native-apps-for-mobile-2013-4?op=1

18. APP DEVELOPMENT LANDSCAPE
Native
Apps
Mobile Web
Apps
“Hybrid”
Apps
Android SDK
iOS / xCode
Visual Studio
WinPhone
HTML5
CSS
Javascript
SenchaTouch
jQuery Mobile
NimbleKit
Titanium Mobile
Rhodes
Web app targeting
handheld devices
Framework that
generates native
code and/or uses
webviews in native.
Apps written for the
native platform.
PhoneGap

19. GO NATIVE OR NOT??
• Gartner’s “Rule ofThree”: use Mobile Enterprise
Application Platform (MEAP) when:
• there are 3 or more mobile applications
• there are 3 or more targeted operating systems or
platforms
• they involve the integration of 3 or more back-end
systems

20. SOME GUIDELINES
• Economics are important, but be user centric (as budget
allows):
• If possible, go native for consumer or customer facing
apps
• Hybrid / Web approach should be considered when you
have a “captive audience”, e.g. employee-only app.
• Web vs. Hybrid: “app store” distribution is most familiar
to end users today.

21. TOPICS
• Overview / Motivation
• The native vs. web app question
• In-house vs. out-sourced development
• Hosting your mobile backend
• Engaging your audience
21

22. IN-HOUSE APP DEVELOPMENT
• Developing apps in-house: What you’ll need...
• Time:All of the native platform SDK’s
involve a considerable learning curve. (Est.
3+ months to become productive)
• Money: Savvy iOS/Android developers
are earning six digit salaries a year or two
out of college.
• Strategy:Are your organization’s mobile
apps to strategically important to leave to
others?
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23. TOPICS
• Overview / Motivation
• The native vs. web app question
• In-house vs. out-sourced development
• Hosting your mobile backend
• Engaging your audience
23

24. MOBILE BACKEND HOSTING
• Behind every interesting mobile app...
• a non-trivial set of database backed network-based services
• scaling agility
• could utilize your organization’s existing web infrastructure
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25. A NEW FORM OF CLOUD
COMPUTING....
• IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and now MBaaS: Mobile Backend as a Service
• Leading contenders:
• Parse.com
• Kinvey.com
• www.stackmob.com
• Kii.com
• Google AppEngine (w/ client frameworks)
Cloud
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26. MBAAS: HOW IT WORKS
• MBaaS Concept:
• App agnostic cloud-based backend
platform.
• Easy to program client side SDKs.
• Zero server-side programming required!
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27. MBAASTRADEOFFS
• MBaaS Advantages
• Minimal effort mobile backend
• All the typical benefits of cloud-
based solutions.
• MBaaS Disadvantages
• Challenges integrating with existing
backends.
• Entrusting a third party with your
data.
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28. TOPICS
• Overview / Motivation
• The native vs. web app question
• In-house vs. out-sourced development
• Hosting your mobile backend
• Engaging your audience
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29. THERE’S AN APP FORTHAT...
Source: http://www.pureoxygenmobile.com/how-many-apps-in-each-app-store/
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30. THERE’S AN APP FORTHAT...
Attracting and sustaining user engagement is becoming
increasingly difficult endeavor!
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31. IMPROVEYOUR APP STORE
RANKINGS
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32. MOBILE GAMIFICATION
gamification:
definition: the use of game thinking and
game mechanics in a non-game context
in order to engage users and solve
problems
Source: http://www.wikipedia.org
Gamification is one technique being used to encourage
sustained engagement.
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33. GAMIFICATION EXAMPLE
• How do you get people
to annotate useful info
while on the road?
• Waze:“social gps” turns
it into a game with
points/leaderboards.
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34. SUMMARY
• The mobile revolution is BIG, and is having a significant impact
on how/when enterprise users access IT systems/services.
• Web vs. Native apps = “it depends”
• In-house app development involves a substantial commitment.
• End mobile users have a lot of options. Sustained end user
engagement requires more effort and different approaches
than traditional front-end systems.
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35. THANKYOU!!
• A copy of this presentation is available on
slideshare.net:
• http://www.slideshare.net/jonathanengelsma
• Email: Jonathan.Engelsma@gvsu.edu
• Twitter: @batwingd
• Web: http://themobilemontage.com