subject: Look What 2011 Washed In: The Year That Was In Mobile Development [print this page] LAN and smartphones are pass! The year 2011 was all about the cloud, Scrum agile methodology, proliferating app stores, the HTML5 draft standard, android devices and the demise of Steve Jobs.
Year-as-a-Platform: Despite all the hyperbole, the cloud grew significantly during the last year. From the most established organizations to start-ups, everyone recognized its benefits. Consumers too got onto the cloud with services from Microsoft, Google, Apple, Amazon and Dropbox to fortify mobile applications development. Even the skeptics were swayed away by the clouds reliability, scalability and affordability. Although there have been service outages to deal with and kinks to work out, none can deny that the cloud serves many of the prime purposes of businesses.
Metro Style: Apple and Microsoft seem to believe that if customers like cute little tiles and icons on their smart phones, they would love them on their desktop as well. Released in July, the Mac OS X 10.7 Lion by Apple brings the look and feel of your iPad to your MacBook and iMac. The Windows 8 by Microsoft goes a step further by introducing the touch screen based Metro in place of the familiar user experience of the Windows. Both have been panned wholeheartedly by critics, but your mobile apps development cant always please everyone!
Calling a Scrum: Year 2011 also saw the rise of Agile development. Except for those who choose a hybrid model, Scrum seems like the preferred methodology of a majority of agile practitioners.
Robbie the Robotphone: Apple was knocked off its perch by the smart phone operating system of Google. Today, sale of Android phones has outdone that of iPhones. Its no surprise taking into consideration the large number of handset manufacturers and models running Android in contrast o just one iOS device manufacturer, thats Apple! Yet, when it comes to the tablet market, the iPad has dominated the market like none other.
Point and Click: We no longer visit brick-and-mortar stores or scout through catalogs to buy software. Today, the most happening place to visit to buy bits, including cloud services, traditional servers and desktops or even mobile devices, is an online app store. With every platform maker having an online store these days, everyone is a winner! The only losers in this whole scenario are the software resellers, as well as makers of DVD-ROM discs.
The Markup Language: After the approval of HTML4 in 1997, its the time for HTML5 to come of age. Rich with all key features needed by the Internet, the HTML5 easily handles, video, audio and other media formats without consuming large amount of CPU resources or battery power. The only challenge is that no one yet knows when HTML5 will become a standard.
Reality Distortion: Whats going to happen to Apple now? was the key question that did round of the universe as the news of the demise of Steve Jobs spread in October 2011, which is still seems to e the Big Daddy of mobile apps development. Truly a transformational figure in the world of technology, Jobs redefined our world like no one ever did!
