Application Platform Strategies

Summary of Findings

Android, BlackBerry, or iPhone: What's Your Platform?

Version: 1.0, Sep 23, 2010

AUTHOR(S):
Kirk Knoernschild
(kknoernschild@burtongroup.com)

TECHNOLOGY THREAD:
Presentation Strategies

139299

Summary of Findings
Bottom Line: Although no single rich mobile application (RMA) platform has emerged as an industry leader, trends suggest that the Android, BlackBerry, and iOS (formerly iPhone OS) platforms are the top contenders. Unfortunately, each possesses its own unique ecosystem, and the platforms are fraught with incompatibilities. Applications written for one platform will not execute on another, and the lack of a unified development, application distribution, and device management solution will challenge many organizations. Before embarking on a development initiative, organizations should assess the strengths and weaknesses of these platforms to determine the level of investment necessary to develop applications for devices that leverage each RMA platform. Context: Mobile devices offer organizations a unique opportunity to interact with employees, customers, and business partners in new ways. Many organizations wish to capitalize on this opportunity. Unfortunately, these platform ecosystems are incompatible, and the emergence of new types of endpoint devices that leverage these platforms compounds the challenge. As the IT consumerization trend accelerates, however, many organizations must support alternative RMA platforms and new devices. Though web technologies can help organizations deliver applications that overcome the compatibility challenges, these applications often fail to leverage the native device capabilities that users have come to expect of mobile applications. Many organizations must use an RMA platform to develop device-resident software programs that integrate with and leverage native device capabilities. Takeaways: Organizations interested in developing an RMA for the Android, BlackBerry, or iOS platforms should be mindful of the following: Each platform possesses its own ecosystem that is incompatible with the others. This presents several challenges to organizations, including: Applications are not portable across platforms. Unified application distribution channels do not exist. Centralized device management solutions do not exist. The development environments, frameworks, and programming languages are different for each of the three platforms. The strengths and weaknesses of the Android platform include: It uses Java as the programming language, though Java developers may find the framework application programming interfaces (APIs) unfamiliar. Openness of the Android platform invites third-party innovation through platform customizations and device features. Development is supported on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. It lacks strong enterprise device management capabilities, though Android 2.2 introduces new APIs to address this shortcoming. Risk of fragmentation is high, which results in application incompatibility across devices, operator networks, and operating system versions. The strengths and weaknesses of the BlackBerry platform include: It features entrenched enterprise capabilities, including over-the-air (OTA) provisioning of application updates and IT policy. It uses Java as the programming language, although Java developers may find the framework APIs unfamiliar. The platform includes excellent enterprise e-mail and calendar integration. Development tool quality lags behind Android and iOS, and is available only for Windows. User experience, including online browsing capabilities, currently pales in comparison to Android and iOS.

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 The strengths and weaknesses of the iOS platform include: It includes excellent enterprise e-mail and calendar integration. Tight control over the user experience (UXP), application distribution, and device form factors reduce the risk of fragmentation issues but limits third-party innovation on the platform. User experience is widely considered the industry standard and is a main contributor to the escalating popularity of the iOS devices. Tool quality of the iOS software development kit (SDK) facilitates development and increases developer productivity, but the Objective-C programming language is unfamiliar to many enterprise developers and development must be conducted on Mac OS X. The platform lacks strong enterprise device management capabilities, though iOS 4 introduces new APIs to address this shortcoming. When developing enterprise mobile applications, consider the following recommendations: Native applications should leverage native capabilities. If applications don't leverage native device capabilities, consider an alternative application delivery mechanism, such as the web. Leverage existing core competencies and recognize the skills gap within each platform. Understand the constraints of the target platforms. Recognize application compatibility challenges due to fragmentation. Understand your target market. Test applications across target device profiles by leveraging the simulator for all device and operating system version combinations the application must support. Evaluate tools for cross-platform development and management. Be mindful that these tools may not lend equal access to all device capabilities. Develop a mobile application strategy. See the guidance document A Guidance Framework for Developing a Mobile Application Strategy. Conclusion: Consumers, employees, and business partners are asking organizations to support a variety of RMA platforms. The lack of a unified development, application distribution, and device management solution across the leading RMA platform contenders will challenge many organizations. To address these challenges, organizations must understand their solution options, including the various strengths and weaknesses of the individual platforms.

Notes
1 Apple Sells Three Million iPads in 80 Days. Apple. 22 Jun 2010. http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/06/22ipad.html. 2 Don Kellogg. iPhone vs. Android. Nielsenwire. 4 Jun 2010. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/iphone-vs-android/. 3 Developing In Other IDEs. Android Developers. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/other-ide.html. 4 Android Emulator. Android Developers. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. http://developer.android.com/guide/developing/tools/emulator.html. 5 iPhone OS Enterprise Deployment Guide: Second Edition, for Version 3.2 or later. Apple. 8 Apr 2010. http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/Enterprise_Deployment_Guide.pdf. 6 Dean Wilson. Android 3.0 to focus on user experience, end fragmentation. TechEYE.net. 16 Jun 2010. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. http://www.techeye.net/mobile/android-3-0-to-focus-on-user-experience-endfragmentation.

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7 Touchscreen Mobile Phone Adoption Grows at Blistering Pace in U.S. During Past Year. comScore. 3 Nov 2009. Accessed online 8 Feb 2010. http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2009/11/Touchscreen_Mobile_Phone_Adoption_Grows _at_Blistering_Pace_in_U.S._During_Past_Year. 8 Steve Jobs. Thoughts on Flash. Apple. Apr 2010. http://www.apple.com/hotnews/thoughts-on-flash/. 9 As of September 2010, Verizon Wireless was still selling the Motorola Devour, which runs Android 1.6. 10 Platform Versions. Android Developers. Accessed online 9 Sep 2010. http://developer.android.com/resources/dashboard/platform-versions.html. 11 Al Sacco. BlackBerry by the Numbers: 20 Percent of Users on OS 5.0; 17 Percent Pre-4.5. CIO.com. 12 May 2010. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. http://advice.cio.com/al_sacco/10342/blackberry_by_the_numbers_20_percent_of_users_on_os_5_0_17_percent _pre_4_5. 12 AdMob Mobile Metrics Report: March 2010. AdMob. 27 Apr 2010. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. 6. http://metrics.admob.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/AdMob-Mobile-Metrics-Mar-10.pdf. 13 Stuart Weinberg, Phred Dvorak. RIM Tests a Tablet and New BlackBerry to Rival iPhone. The Wall Street Journal. 15 Jun 2010. Accessed online 23 Aug 2010. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704324304575307142201727232.html?mod=WSJ_hps_MIDDL ESecondNews.

Author Bio
Kirk Knoernschild Analyst Emphasis: languages, platforms, SDLC, frameworks Background: Kirk Knoernschild is an analyst for Burton Group Application Platform Strategies. He covers development platforms, programming languages and frameworks, and the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Prior to joining Burton Group, Kirk was a software developer who could be found working in the trenches on enterprise software development projects. With over 15 years of software development experience, Kirk has filled most roles on the software development team. In 2002, Kirk wrote the book Java Design: Objects, UML, and Process, published by Addison-Wesley. Kirk is an open source contributor, has authored numerous articles, and is a frequent conference speaker. He has trained and mentored thousands of software professionals on topics including Java/J2EE, modeling, software architecture and design, component based development, service oriented architecture, and software process. Kirk is trapped in a software developers body, and continues to enjoy hacking in a variety of languages, including Java, .Net, Ruby, and PHP.
Copyright 2009 Burton Group. ISSN 1048-4620. All rights reserved. All product, technology and service names are trademarks or service marks of their respected owners. See Terms of Use and publishing information at http://www.burtongroup.com/AboutUs/TermsOfUse.aspx

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