Common Problems Faced When Developing Applications for Mobile Devices

Introduction

Mobile Computing is currently growing and has no plans of slowing down in the near future. Gartner states that worldwide sales of mobile devices to end users totaled 428.7 million units in the second quarter of 2011, a 16.5 percent increase from the second quarter of 2010 (Pettey & Goasduff, 2011). This growth is attracting more and more developers to move away from traditional applications and web development. Many of these developers are now focused on developing applications for mobile devices. A mobile device is a generic term used to refer to a variety of devices that allow people to access data and information from where ever they are. This includes cell phones and portable devices (Hakoama & Hakoyama, 2011). A mobile device is a very broad term in the fact that it can refer to laptops, net books, smart phones and the most recent form of mobile technology known as tablets. When a person discusses mobile devices today, they are generally referring to a smart phone or tablet. Developers whether they are new to mobile development or seasoned veterans, run into many problems and are required to make tough calculated decisions based on number of factors affecting the deployment/ accessibility of their mobile application.