I bet you are one of those people who cannot imagine stepping out of their homes without their handheld gadgets. When buying these gadgets and devices, say a mobile phone, for instance, the mere fact that it can make calls and send text messages is not enough. The other features and other benefits of the phone, as well as the apps included, are also given a lot of thought. We also want to be able to add apps to it at a later date. However, most of us only care what's already built into them. We don't really give any thought or attention to how it came about, or what went on before. The process is called mobile application development.

The introduction of the iPhone triggered so many technological advancements in the mobile industry. Soon the industry engaged in producing mobile devices and gadgets are racing against each other in coming up with 'the latest', 'the best', and 'the fastest'. Consumers definitely benefit from this competition. Basically, mobile application development involves all the thoughts and processes that go into the creation and development of the various application software found in small handheld gadgets and devices. Aside from mobile phones, another example of said handheld devices include personal digital assistants or PDAs.

These mobile apps are obtained by users in a number of ways. It is possible to have the apps installed during the latter parts of the device's manufacturing stage. They could also be installed during the purchasing stage. A personal favorite among users would be to download these mobile apps into their phones. Thanks to the increasing number of mobile application developers these days, downloading has become a favorite method. You cannot hope to make very good mobile applications if you don't have the right tools. They will be needed to get a start on the creation and also during the entire process. The tools can be found in the integrated development environments or IDEs found within the different mobile application platforms.

The most common and popular platforms for mobile applications include J2ME (Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition), Android, Symbian, Windows Phone and Windows Mobile. These tools are then used primarily for the writing of these applications. There are developmental tools that you can obtain at a fee while there are also those that you can get for free.

Testing of the mobile applications would follow, and that is done within the development environment itself. Emulators are used to initially test these mobile apps since they are relatively inexpensive and simple to use. Afterwards, the mobile apps will be subjected to field testing. In this stage, the field testing will be done directly in the target platform environment. The mobile apps will eventually get to the end users in this environment.

If you want proof of just how much mobile application development has grown and advanced, you need only look at the application stores and markets. Users will have a field day just trying to go through every mobile app found in these application stores.