Mobile is changing the face of application development

As mobile computing continues its rapid growth path in both the consumer and enterprise environments, software developers are being faced with a new challenge. Not only do developers need to cater for new platforms for their applications, but also a new concept in design.

“In the past, engineers would develop software based on the technicalities involved in the backend, ensuring the application performed as required,” explained BBD's CTO, Peter Scheffel. “The users had little choice in the interface they used, as long as it allowed them to perform the task the enterprise required.

“Things are now different, as the concept of designing the interface is fundamental to the mobile software development process.”

Users today demand an engaging consumer user interface when utilising their mobile devices, one that meets their needs and expectations, not what the engineers decide to provide. It is this requirement that is forcing the development industry to tackle an element of design it has never had to explicitly deal with before. [image available: ipad - contacts]

“Software is no longer simply an engineering project,” adds Scheffel. “The look-and-feel as well as the functionality of the final interface is as important as the backend. To capture the user's interest in the final product, the interface must be designed by people with skills in providing a 'sticky' experience.”

For companies hoping to make an impact in the mobile app space, this design process has to be a fundamental part of its development practice. Scheffel says the interface has to “dazzle” the end-user from the first moment the application starts.

An example of this can be seen in the difference between the interface design of the two most popular mobile interfaces today, Apple's iPad and Google's Android operating systems. In articles published by Business Insider and Mashable, the authors show that Apple's design is more popular because it is a focus of the user's experience, not technology.

The user experience is critical to Apple, while technology and what the data says is important for Google. That's not to say that the technology underpinning either of the systems is better or worse, but users have given usability the thumbs up and this is why Apple seems to command the hearts and minds of users. As Business Insider says: “Apple... has a product-design and marketing culture, in which 'technology' merely serves to support a product's function and form.”

Scheffel notes that while BBD has a long history of developing successful applications for the enterprise market, in moving to cater for the mobile space; it has retained the services of a dedicated design company. The company is run and staffed by traditional building architects able to craft the final interface into something the user will identify with.

“Of course, while the interface is paramount, the traditional development standards focusing on security and integrity of the system and data can't be forgotten,” says Scheffel. [Image available: Accuweather w8 / ipad / android]

Two examples of design Scheffel provides come from Apple and Microsoft. Apple's mobile design is based on an immersive concept where the interface is easy to use because it reflects what users are already used to doing.

The Apple bookshelf, for example, looks like a bookshelf. Users can easily browse the contents, touch the book or magazine they want to read and flip through pages, almost as if it was the physical product. [Images available: Newsstand ipad]

Microsoft, on the other hand, uses a modernist tile system in its new Metro interface. The idea is to keep things as simple as possible and make the process of using the system clear and concise with no clutter whatsoever. The Android interface follows the middle road, incorporating elements of each. [Image available: w8 desktop]

“When building a mobile application, developers need to incorporate these principles in their design,” notes Scheffel. “The ideal is that the user will be able to navigate the interface almost without thinking because it looks and feels like any other application running on their mobile device.

“The challenge is, therefore, that it is not possible to develop one interface for all mobile devices as one does for a PC, but to optimise the application to bring out the important aspects of each platform. There is no one operating system winner in the mobile platform space, so we expect this to be a challenge for quite some time.”

Scheffel says the simple fact of mobile applications is that “good enough” doesn't cut it. Applications need to be designed for the platform they are running on, as well as to meet the users' expectations.