12.3.4: Mobile Apps
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Just as with the personal computer, mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones also have operating systems and application software. In fact, these mobile devices are in many ways just smaller versions of personal computers. A mobile app is a software application programmed to run specifically on a mobile device.
As we saw in chapter 2, smartphones and tablets are becoming a dominant form of computing, with many more smartphones being sold than personal computers. This means that organizations will have to get smart about developing software on mobile devices in order to stay relevant.
These days, most mobile devices run on one of two operating systems: Android or iOS. Android is an open-source operating system purchased and supported by Google; iOS is Apple’s mobile operating system. In the fourth quarter of 2012, Android was installed on 70.1% of all mobile phones shipped, followed by 21.0% for iOS. Other mobile operating systems of note are Blackberry (3.2%) and Windows (2.6%). [3]
As organizations consider making their digital presence compatible with mobile devices, they will have to decide whether to build a mobile app. A mobile app is an expensive proposition, and it will only run on one type of mobile device at a time. For example, if an organization creates an iPhone app, those with Android phones cannot run the application. Each app takes several thousand dollars to create, so this is not a trivial decision for many companies.
One option many companies have is to create a website that is mobile-friendly. A mobile website works on all mobile devices and costs about the same as creating an app. We will discuss the question of whether to build a mobile app more thoroughly in Chapter 10.