Get creative with mobile apps

The future is paved with exciting career options, thanks to mobile apps. So, make the most of it, advises Rauf Adil.

Businesses are facing a dearth of mobile development talent despite market demand for applications that can run on iOS, Android and Html-5-based mobile browsers is surging.

For IT professionals with programming skills, that gap represents a fresh opportunity to embark on a career makeover. Even people with no programming experience can and have designed mobile applications. Contrary to popular opinion, it’s not just tech companies that are looking for mobile development talent. Today, all kinds of product and service companies are scrambling to come out with their own signature apps.

 The future clearly lies in mobile apps, with 61 per cent of respondents of a worldwide survey claiming that they plan to enhance their mobile capability in the next three years. Forty eight per cent believe they will become leaders in their industries by fully adopting innovative mobility solutions.

Another tech report revealed that in 2012, mobile devices will surpass PCs, in both shipment and spending, while mobile apps are likely to generate a lot of revenue with billions of downloads.

A mobile ‘app’ or  a mobile application is a software developed for smart phones, tablets and mobile PCs. These ‘apps’ can be as simple as a basic flashlight application or a dictionary or something complicated like a Google Maps Navigation app.

There are mobile apps developed for entertainment like the Facebook and Twitter app (social media networks) or the Angry Birds mobile app (games). With this sudden spurt in the popularity of mobile apps, mobile application development has become a popular specialisation in software programming.

Let me tell you more about how the mobile app works. A mobile app is a software programme that runs on a mobile device such as an Apple iPhone or devices that run the Google Android operating System.

Typically, mobile apps are either native (written for a particular mobile operating system such as Apple iOS or Google Android) or are mobile-web-based apps that use markup languages such as HTML-5 and require a browser to run.

Who makes them?

A mobile developer is a software engineer or software programmer who can design, develop and test mobile application on one or more mobile operating systems and devices (such as Apple iOS or Google Android).

Now, if one wanted to become a mobile app developer, you would need to be proficient in a programming language such as C, C++, Objective C for writing applications on Ios (iPhone, iPad) or Java (Android, Blackberry OS).

You should also be able to understand the basics of UI design and the basics of application design, development and testing. Once you have a good hold of the basics, then you have to choose what platform and mobile operating system you want to specialise in and focus on it.

If you want to become an iPhone or iPad developer, you have to learn Objective-C, xCode and Interface Builder on a Mac OS-X platform.

If you want to become a Google Android developer, you have to be proficient in Java and learn Android development. Android development can be done on Mac OS-X, Windows or Linux.

Some of the most popular programming languages used are Java on Android, Objective-C on IOS and HMTL5 (cross platform mobile apps). Other choices include Java (J2ME) for Blackberry OS, C# with XAML for Windows Phone 7.

If you are considering joining a course to learn programming for mobile apps, you will find that currently neither Google nor Apple have any certified developer programmes available.

However, quite a few public and private institutions offer short-term courses (diploma or certifications). Many educational institutions are including mobility technology as part of their curriculum too. 

Is app development too niche?

App developers worry about getting stuck in a niche career. But this should be the least of their worries as it is far from the truth. As one specialises in the field, he/she can look at exploring the following career paths:

*Mobile UI designer (requires artistic and creative skills)

*User experience and usability expert (requires understanding of human interaction and ease-of-use metrics),

*Applications developer/engineer (requires programming skills), mobility architect (requires programming, design and some design-aesthetics skills)
With enterprise mobility becoming a fast-emerging technology area, many IT companies are ramping up their operations and capabilities to effectively meet the mobility needs of their customers. This opens up many career opportunities for those who have the required expertise in the area.

The future for mobile app developers is pretty bright. Smart phones are outselling PCs and laptops, and they will be the default devices for running client software applications. Mobile app development is evolving to integrate with television, in-car navigation, shopping, commerce and banking.

(The writer is mobility practice head, Virtusa Corporations.)