Mobile Application Porting: The Best Way To Ensure Cross Platform Mobile Products

By Author: Yancy Marry
Total Articles: 185

Mobile application porting is a process that is applied to software used in mobile devices in order to ensure that an executable program created for one mobile environment can also be run on other environments. A mobile application can be termed as portable when expenses of porting the app to a new mobile platform is comparatively lower than writing the application on the new platform. Mobile application porting is the most effective way to ensure the availability of cross platform products since it allows using of the same program on varied mobile environments.

The demand for mobile applications is rising by the hour. This has led to not only huge opportunities for app development companies but also challenges to come up with mobile applications that can run on multiple environments. The operating systems & mobile devices vary in different enterprises. The market requirement, features of the different devices used, and the screen sizes of these mobile devices also vary from one enterprise to another. This comes across as a challenge to mobile app development companies which have to manufacture applications that are compatible across the multiple mobile devices. This is where the need for porting mobile applications from one device to another comes into play. An app developer must make sure that the mobile applications he/she releases in the mobile market must be portable from the iOS to the Android, Windows Phone, or BlackBerry devices and vice versa.

Not many years ago every mobile app development company used in-house methods of mobile application porting. However, not only is the in-house procedure very complex, it also entails huge expenditure for the app development unit. To enable simple & cost effective mobile application porting strategy, the leveraging of app developers of all major OS platforms like Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and iOS is necessary. Listed below are some ways to reduce costs while ensuring successful mobile application porting facilities to increase the use of cross platform technology within an enterprise:

1. Use the Intra Platform Porting Method – The upgradation of all operating systems used in the enterprise, addition of new features, and integration of existing features must be ensured.

2. Porting to Different Mobile Devices – While carrying out the process of mobile app porting, an app developer has to pay special attention to porting across multiple mobile devices, i.e., different mobile devices that run on the same operating system.

3. Proper Communication with Clients – It is important to take proper note of the porting requirements of different clients by creating a reference port and then deciding the target OS platforms & mobile devices to be used. Performing gap analysis is also important if the needs of clients are to be satisfied.

4. Device & Platform Assessment – Assessment of the mobile device & OS platform that the device is running on is important if an app developer has to identify the limitations that will inhibit successful mobile application porting.

5. Code Rewriting, GUI Changes, Code Revision, QA Testing, and Optimization of the targeted mobile device & the platform it is running on must be completed before the process of mobile application porting starts.

User experience and the logic used for concluding effective mobile application porting are two points that every application developer, mostly game app developers must keep in mind. Expertise and skill are essential for successful mobile application porting, hence every enterprise must employ qualified personnel for the task.

Copper Mobile is counted amongst leading enterprise app developer with experience of working on cross platform development. The firm has experienced teams of Android application developers and iPhone application developer to meet customized demands of clients.