Mobile Considerations MIS 3502, Fall 2016 Jeremy Shafer Department of MIS Fox School of Business Temple University 9/27/2016

Discuss What makes mobile different? Users are likely to be distracted Environment may have poor lighting Users may reasonably expect results related to their proximity Multiple screen sizes are the norm

Mobile developers face a decision: Option A – Develop a traditional web application and make it responsive. Option B – Develop a native mobile application.

So … what about the natives? Discuss If I can make a fully responsive web interface, what’s the point in making a native mobile application? Is it practical for my business to develop and maintain two web presences? (One for native mobile, the other a responsive web design?) If you have to choose one or the other, which do you choose?

Native Application Features There are some things you only get with native apps: Multi touch - double taps, pinch-spread, and other compound UI gestures Fast graphics API – might not be a big deal if you’re showing a static screen with only a few elements, or a very big deal if you’re using a lot of data and require a fast refresh. Fluid animation - Especially important in gaming, highly interactive reporting, or intensely computational algorithms for transforming photos and sounds. Built-in components - The camera, address book, geolocation (GPS or cell tower triangulation), accelerometer, magnetometer (digital compass), encrypted storage and other features native to the device can be seamlessly integrated into mobile apps. Source: https://developer.salesforce.com/page/Native,_HTML5,_or_Hybrid:_Understanding_Your_Mobile_Application_Development_Options

It’s a question of vision. Can I envision a solution that makes creative use of those features? Consider the The London Underground (or the Tube)

The Official London Transport Site As seen in Mobile First, Luke Wroblewski, 2011

The Nearest Tube app As seen in Mobile First, Luke Wroblewski, 2011

Or … Penguins! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK4-zPD_25U

Mobile first Regardless of your choices regarding native mobile application development it is often it is advantageous to consider mobile content and features first. The following diagrams illustrate this.

Southwest Airlines - desktop As seen in Mobile First, Luke Wroblewski, 2011

Southwest Airlines - desktop As seen in Mobile First, Luke Wroblewski, 2011

Making a choice Do I have the financial resources to build, and maintain, two platforms? Do I have a vision? Can I envision some use of mobile device native app features that give my business a competitive advantage? How important is my presence in the App Store or Google Play? Is that presence worth the investment of resources necessary to create and maintain that presence?

There’s really a third option. Option A – Develop a traditional web application and make it responsive. Option B – Develop a native mobile application. Option C – Sacrifice full device control for portability. Use a mobile application framework: Apache Cordova. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhoneGap