Accelerating Mobile Development with Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms

(MEAP)

Srinath PereraDirector, Research

WSO2 Inc.

Who first proposed a mobile phone?

• The Picture in 1926 by Karl Arnold

• 1931, Erich Kästner’s children book

• 1959 by Arthur C. Clarke

Could you guess who proposed first mobile App?

“In 1907, Lewis Baumer’s cartoon "Predictions for 1907” showed a man and a woman in London's Hyde Park each separately engaged in gambling and dating on wireless telephony equipment.”

This is before car or Airplane

So after 100 years, where we stand?• 7B humans and 6.6 mobile subscribers

(>80%) vs. 2.5B in internet and 1.9B in social networks

• Mobiles overtaking PC, more traffic comes from mobile.

• 80% time on phones spent on apps• Currently 25% are smart phones

• 56% of American adults and 72% of Y generation own an smart phone

• More than 50% Asians will have a smartphone by 2015

Smartphone, one device to rule them

all

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sixmilliondollardan/3383537791/

There is an App for that• It is Apps that make

the difference• Overnight millionaire

e.g. Angry Birds (200M in revenue 2013)

• There is an app for pretty much everything

• Long tail of Apps

App Economics• Both Apple and Google Play

stores has close to 1M apps• Recorded about 10B$ revenue

2013 each (Sri Lanka total export 9B$/ Year )

• 27 and 29 billion apps downloads

Treat or a threat??• Apps are the key to the

success of mobile • It is High impact and has

very large potential market • Organizations must think

mobile and Apps• Customers asks for it: they

need what your site do as an App and more

• You are missing out on the mobile traffic

http://www.flickr.com/photos/iancarroll/4856006353/

Soon, you will be writing mobile

apps!! So what it take to write them?

Mobile Application Landscape

• Several Platforms and Devices• Apple iOS• Android• Windows Mobile• ..

• No specifications or common ground

Challenges: Devices and Apps• Technology (Devices) and OS changes very fast

(multiple times per year. )• Devices have different screen sizes, input modes

and hardware capabilities. • Network connectivity and power levels fluctuate

widely in typical usage scenarios. • New consumer applications regularly extend and

revise the standards for good mobile applications. • Each mobile OS has a unique presentation style,

interaction style and software stack.

Challenges: Evolving Apps• Apps are not write and dump, you

have to maintain/ improve them• Code and Build • Rollouts • Community

• Forums • Issues

• Sharing and reuse • Governance

Challenge: App Development Lifecycle

• Development challenges• Each platform provider

controls their stores and Apps available though those stores.

Challenge: Backend Services

• Most Apps need backend services

• Life cycle get more complicated

• Now you face devOps challenges as well

DevOps Challenges

• High Availability • Scalability • Varying load • Automation • Recovery (Backup)• Security Updates

Using WSO2 Products to Build an App

Is that enough?

Mobile Enterprise Application Platform (MEAP)

• Coined by Gartner 2008 and called “multi-channel access gateway market”, which was renamed later

• Multi billon dollar market • Initial goal was write once run anywhere, but now

covering all lifecycle of mobile app development• Rule of Three

• All concepts must be demonstrated for three platforms.

WSO2 MEAP Big Picture

Write Once, Run Everywhere• Each application platform (IOS, Android, Windows

Mobile ) has its own language• Three options to write portable apps

1. Hybrid – Write HTML5 code and interpret at via HTML5 interpreter runtime. E.g. PhoneGap(Apache Cordova),

2. HTML5 + JavaScript based UI design SDK e.g. Dojo Toolkit, YUI Library, jQuery Mobile, Sencha Touch.

3. Write HTML5 + Java script and generate native code – e.g. Xamerin (c#)/ Appcelerator (java script)

• We start with Android native and option 1, Cordova

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eschipul/

IDE and Lifecycle Support• WSO2 AppFactory with

CodeEnvy Integration • Support for lifecycles:

dev, test, staging, production

Backend Services• Mostly HTTP/ JSON, but other

protocols like MQTT is possible as well

• Supported via MBaaS• Three Products: Service Hosting (AS),

service mediation (ESB), and APIs with inbuilt mobile services like location services, messaging services etc.

• Can run in Cloud in “pay as you go” fashion with autoscaling http://pixiedoll106.deviantart.com/art/Ballerinas-

Backstage-345476040

Testing• When built, app goes to store

assigned by the lifecycle (Dev, QA, Staging, Production)

• Then tester can download and test

• We will do a Mobile emulator by running the app and showing it in browser as well.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/juha_riissanen/

MEAP and Analytics

• Support probes and let users monitor metrics (KPI) about App development and App executions and backend

• Powered by WSO2 BAM and CEP

http://www.flickr.com/photos/isriya/2967310333/

Conclusion

• Mobile Application management poses several key challenges

• WSO2 MEAP Product as a solution • Reduce time to Market • Enhanced Developer experience • Regulatory compliance • Increase Reuse • Visibility • Shared infrastructure

• Coming in Q3 2014

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsmoorman/2298671281/