Gauri Chhabra
In today’s fast and fluid world, our lives hinge on two important things- wallets and mobiles.
Out of the two, the latter is of paramount importance. You may want to book a cab, prepare for your forthcoming Competitive Exam, scribble notes as reminders in your time crunched days, connect with friends and family, find out about the nearby ATM’s and stores, mobile apps come to your rescue. In this Smart Modeled world, mobile apps are something you cannot do without. It is a field that offers a glorious future.
What is Mobile Application Development?
Mobile application development is the process by which application software is developed for low-power handheld devices, such as personal digital assistants, enterprise digital assistants or mobile phones. These applications can be pre-installed on phones during manufacturing, downloaded by customers from various mobile software distribution platforms, or delivered as web applications to provide an “application-like” experience within a Web browser. In simple terms, a mobile app is a software program for one’s phone.
Usually, they are downloaded from the platform to a target device, such as an iPhone, BlackBerry, Android phone or Windows Phone, but sometimes they can be downloaded to laptops or desktops.
With the recent glut in mobile phones and platforms and the dire need to connect and make the best use of time, career in mobile apps is no more a niche career option. It is one that brings about a happy marriage of technology and innovation. So, if you are excited about mobile apps and have the creative streak in you , you can head start your career with the following skillsets:
Eligibility and Skill-sets required:
*BTech (Computer application) or MCA degree with experience of gateways/servers (WAP, XML, VXML, WTA, ), browsers (WML, XHTML), clients (SMS, e-mail, chat), and stacks (WAP2.0 and TCP/IP).
*For iPhone & iPad developer, proficiency in Objective-C, xCode and Interface Builder on Mac OS-X platform.
*For Google Android developer, proficiency in Java. Android development can be done on Mac OS-X, Windows or Linux environment.
*Proficiency in object-oriented programming and understanding of user interface
*Ability to blend artistic creativity and technical creativity.
*ability to understand client requirements
*Agile in adapting to change specifications
*Ability to adapt to lengthy array of screen sizes, hardware specifications and configurations.
Career Options:
*Mobile UI designer
*User Experience and Usability expert
*Applications developer/engineer
*Mobility Architect
*Content writer
*Network programmer (writes code that allows players to compete or cooperate, connected via internet.)
Tech talk
You may be spending part of the day writing or understanding the requirements for the mobile app and interacting with end users in determining usability and user experience.
Pushpinder Kaur, a mobile app developer who developed DayClips, a pure native I phone application, talks about her app and her work,”Day Clips is a new approach to capturing information that takes the concept of “sound bites”, and extends it to other capture types which we call Clips, enabling you to quickly collect whatever information you find useful as you move through your day. As far as my work routine is concerned it often involves taking large chunks of data and making it work for the user. It’s about coming up with different solutions to the same problems. You’re building on stuff all the time, taking what has worked with something else and applying it to a new app.”
Institutions and courses
*Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, Pune offering a full-fledgeddegree in Mobile App Development
*Sebiz Finishing School,Chandigarh
*Geekmentors Noida
*CodeFrux, Bangalore for both iPhone and Android platforms.
*NIIT
Besides, there are many online courses, Stanford University online course on iOS development is considered to be one of the best
Mobile apps as e learning platforms:
Today, mobile apps have forayed into one sector that is recession proof and offers new challenges ie Education. Apps have become e learning platforms and help students prepare for competitive examinations.Multiple companies and publishing houses have turned their content into apps, GMAT app being one of them.The Graduate Management Admission Council made the 13th edition Official Guide for GMAT Review available on the Android and Apple mobile platforms. The app provides an interactive, self- paced platformthat allows you to register to take the GMAT exam directly through the app. It also comes with a six-month subscription to the Integrated Reasoning online tool, and includes review modules, 50 GMAT exam questions, answer explanations and exam preparation resources. In addition, students can also take practice tests for NEET, JEE-Main, as well as CAT on their mobile phones.
The recent breakthrough in e learning platform has been brought about by Bharti Airtel with its new service called ‘Airtel mEducation’ which provides its users a plethora of educational service to choose from. Spread across the entire education chain from learning to practice to testing to counseling it provides a linear progression to the student which can be accessed by Airtel users on their mobile phones. It provides various courses in its services portfolio, like learning of English, Office Vocabulary, Exam preparation course for UPSC, MBA, CLAT, Bank PO, RRB and more. You can also take up mock tests for the above mentioned courses to evaluate how you are prepared.Being available on mobile phones, it calls for a larger penetration of the end users categories from students to people sitting in board rooms. The UI is intuitive and user friendly and also allows an interaction in your native language in both Voice and IM format.
The Road Ahead
With an exponential escalation in text messaging, Smartphone purchases and mobile advertising, mobility is going to be the new mantra. Location-based services, social networking application, m-commerce, context-aware service, object recognition, mobile instant messaging and mobile payment or mobile money transfer will be the areas of growth.
So, give your career a tech start by going the mobile way…
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