Mobile application development is the process of creating and developing application software and programs for mobile phones and smart devices. These software and application programs are already installed during the manufacture of the mobile device or purchased from mobile phone software providers and then installed on the phone, or downloaded directly to the mobile phone through your web browser (via its HTTP functionality that uses client and server-side processing). But since this is a very broad topic, this article will help you get familiar with mobile app development.

Mobile phone software and applications are being designed, built, and developed to run on today’s most popular mobile device platforms and environments. These are Android OS, Blackberry OS, HP Web OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian OS, and Apple iOS OS. These runtime environments only support the code and binaries that correspond to your operating system. But what is common among most of the mobiles is that they use ARM processors. Through the commonly used ARM architecture, the mobile application codes and binaries are executed in machine format to be read by the device’s processor. However, mobile app development still needs to be done using tools for specific mobile operating systems.

As a developer, it is always essential to determine and analyze which platforms or environments to use for the development of applications and programs for mobile phones. Mobile software development gives the programmer exposure to the tools of the trade, allowing them to write code faster, test it, and then deploy the mobile app to certain mobile phones and their operating systems. Some of the well-known development environments for mobile app development include the following: Adobe AIR, Android, Application Craft, Aqua, Battery Tech, Blackberry, Canappi, CloudPact, Corona SDK, iOS SDK, Java ME, Macromedia Flash Lite, Meme SDI,. NET Framework, Symbian, Windows Mobile and webOS.

After each development phase, the built and developed modules of the mobile application must undergo a series of tests to determine if it works according to the established requirements or not. The project team must assign one of its members to perform functionality tests and controls. For mobile app development, here are mobile app test environments that can be used for Android, iPhone, and Blackberry operating systems:

1. Google Android Emulator
2. Official Android SDK Emulator
3. MobiOne
4. iPhoney; Y
5. BlackBerry stimulator.

Other tools include FoneMonkey, Robotium, Sikuli, and MITE.

These are the things to keep in mind when you set out to develop applications and software programs for mobile phones and smart devices. It is quite difficult and time consuming to undertake a mobile app development project as there are many requirements to consider and a lot of time is needed for the analyses, the simultaneous development of different modules and their integration into a fully functional one. application, and the testing phase that must be carried out meticulously. Mobile application software development is similar to system software development for computers, web applications, and website development: the product of the project goes through the phases of the system development life cycle (SDLC). Therefore, the only difference is the development environments and the operating systems where the mobile applications are going to be deployed.