Mobile application development is rapidly becoming the most powerful tool for a developer to make the world even more compact than what it has already been compressed into. Merely, a touch on the phone screen or a button press can get you whatever you need, where ever you are. Other than conversing (basic phone feature). It can make us laugh and cry (instant messaging), Guide us to our path (GPS navigation services), Fulfill our business needs (email configuration), Do social networking (Facebook, Twitter etc), Share stuff (File sharing using Bluetooth), Listen and even make music and videos (media applications), Play and develop incredible games (mobile games development) and a lot more.

An Advertisement hub

Mobile advertising is rapidly growing in the area of providing brands, agencies and marketers the opportunity to connect with consumers beyond traditional and digital media and directly in a personal level through their mobile phones. It optimizes campaign effectiveness and strengthens consumer satisfaction.

Mobile application development is the process by which applications are developed for small low-power handheld devices such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications are either pre-installed on phones during manufacture or downloaded by customers from app stores and other mobile software distribution platforms like Apple app-store, android market etc.

Many big names of the world are associated with Mobile application development. It includes Apple (i-Os in i-phone and i-pad), Google and Open Handset Alliance (Android), RIM (Blackberry), Nokia (Symbian) etc.

Something for Everyone

Gone are the days when smart phones were seen as a high-end gadget only for the techies and business people. Now the Mobile world has got a bunch of Mobile applications for every individual, be it a banker, a shopkeeper, a housewife, a mother, a student, a sports trainer, a cook, a business man, a gamer, a music lover, a musician, a dancer, a teacher, a police man, a doctor, a cab driver, a kid, a retired individual, an insurance professional, a manager, an accountant, a law professional, a security officer, a cyclist, a runner etc. Whatever you are and whatever you do, you will definitely find applications fitting into your work and life in the mobile app markets.

Some of the far-reaching mobile applications include Talking GPS for blind people, Language converter application, Real-time games, Real-time GPS tracking apps, Waze: Real-time crowd sourced traffic data application, Parker app: Real-time parking space info tracker and many more and guess what? The best apps are yet come.

A Developer’s point of view

Mobile applications development is done on many platforms: Apple’s I-OS (running on i-phones and i-pads), Google’s android, Blackberry, Symbian, MeeGo/Maemo, Windows phone 7, Java ME, Air/Flash Lite, BREW, BREW MP, Samsung BADA and WebOS etc. Now, if a Mobile application developer has to choose from one of the available platforms then, each one has its own unique set of features, which attracts a developer to go for them. Apple’s app-store is offering more than 300,000 mobile applications and other competitors like are coming close rapidly.

As far as the cost factor is concerned, most of the mobile applications are available in the market starting from as low as $.99 to $6, along with trial versions of these apps for free. But it does not mean that we have to pay to get any application to work in our phone. There is a bunch of very useful apps which are available free in the market, For example Skype, Google voice, Word press, AppMiner, I-Books, Facebook, Pandora-radio, Find my phone etc can be downloaded free of cost. The utility of these applications does speak for their value-for-money aspect, which is making us buy them, to help us live a better life.

Though, taking every aspect into account, including the brand popularity, consumer demand, ease of development, future technology, competition, flexibility, increasing number of users etc. Apple’s I-OS and Android are on the top. br>Android’s best feature is that it uses the open source java as it’s development medium, which is attracting developers with any development background to go for it. As, it reduces any kind of dependency to develop its applications where as i-OS development is done in MAC environment only.

So, let’s get mobile!