Mobile phones and devices have become such a ubiquitous part of our everyday lives that it’s difficult to imagine going through an entire day without one. This shift to ubiquity has been driven largely in part by the increasing scope of mobile application development. Over just the past few years an explosion in not just the scope but also the depth of utility of these devices has occurred which rivals, if not exceeds that seen in any other discrete class of technology.
As time has passed, our mobile phones have moved far beyond acting as a proxy for voice-to-voice communication and are now embedded in many aspects of our daily lives. Today, you can flip past your entry screen and check an annotated calendar that reminds you when you’re late for an appointment, pull documents from your cloud server or personal computer, begin learning a new language or perhaps have a bottle of Cabernet delivered directly to your door.
Mobile applications can be developed across a range of platforms--from iPhone, Android, iPad to Windows mobile amongst others. The scope of mobile application development has grown so explosively not only because of the number of development platforms, but because of the nearly limitless range of ways it enhances our lives.
If you had told anyone in 2002 that in just a few years you would be able to organize your entire life on your personal phone, you would have been received with some fairly staunch criticism. Had you mentioned that you could also manage your entire sales team, track marketing reports and meet face-to-face with clients without ever putting down your phone, you may have been laughed out of the room. What about the countless applications tailored to nearly every niche hobby or novel functionality imaginable? This was totally unheard of not too many years ago.
Because of this range of potential uses, tens of thousands of companies across the globe have seized upon this opportunity to integrate their brand into the everyday lives of their current and future customers. Since smartphone sales alone have long eclipsed personal computer sales, the paradigm has shifted dramatically. By the end of 2014 it has been predicted that there will be nearly twice as many smartphones sold as compared to computers. This isn’t even including tablets, wearable technology and other mobile devices such as the Kindle. The rapid nature of this paradigm shift and explosive growth in scope of mobile application development has left many companies grasping at straws when it comes to breaking into this market. Even seasoned mobile application developers themselves must work daily to stay ahead of the curve and ensure that their skill set meets the current market demand.
For this reason, it is absolutely necessary to recruit a professional from outside of your organization to handle the process of mobile application development. When software development is not a core competency of existing staff, it is incredibly dangerous to trust such an outward-facing representation of your brand with anyone but a specialized expert.
Hiring these skilled professionals on a contract basis to work with discrete application development projects has become the preferred method of most companies. This allows the company to ensure the production of a high quality product while also providing direct input and maintaining complete control throughout the mobile application development process.
As the scope of mobile application development continues to grow, it places new strains on businesses in order to remain competitive in their own market. But, for those who handle their mobile application development properly, it can open doors and create opportunities for growth and expansion of their company and brand that simply would not have been possible without it.
