Mobile Application Porting: Why Is It Essential For Enterprises?

By Author: Yancy Marry
Total Articles: 184
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The deployment of mobile applications is no longer a luxury but a necessity for enterprises. This is the reason why the demand of mobile app development companies is ever increasing in the market. While opportunities are galore for an app developer, the challenges are also many. Challenge comes in the form of different types of operating systems, different mobile devices, the large scale features of these devices, and the varied screen sizes that app designers have to work with. Also, the requirement or expectation from all these OS platforms & mobile devices also differ. In the face of such a challenge, the porting of applications from one device to another becomes necessary. Mobile apps running on every type of OS platform can be ported.

Just like the development of mobile applications, porting of apps can also be done in-house if the IT team of an enterprise is skilled & qualified enough for the job. However, it has been observed that collection of guidelines & information on the variety of OS platforms & mobile devices is not only difficult but also expensive. This is the reason why most enterprises ...
... now hire the services of a professional app development company that conducts mobile app porting.

Types of Mobile Application Porting

Cross Platform Porting – This process involves porting of a mobile app from operating system to another.

Intra Platform Porting – This process is similar to that of upgradation of an operating system; new features are added or integrated in the existing apps running on an OS platform.

Porting to Multiple Devices – In this process, mobile apps are ported from one mobile device to another. However, all these devices have to be running on the same OS platform, though they may show different characteristics or features.

The Process Involved in Mobile Application Porting

Mobile app porting is a step by step procedure. Listed below are the steps involved to provide systematic mobile application porting to enterprises:

1. Once a client lists the mobile application requirements, the team of professionals must create reference posts and then decide on the target OS platforms & the mobile devices that will be used in mobile app porting.

2. The second step is gap analysis. This is a process to evaluate which applications used in the enterprise require porting.

3. Operating system assessment and mobile device assessment or a thorough checking of the functionality of these two components must be performed so as to diminish the limitations in the OS platform & the device, thus assuring effective mobile app porting.

4. Development for porting of a mobile application starts only when all components involved are found in good working condition. The development process involves rewriting of a code, code revision, optimization, and making GUI changes.

5. An elaborate QA testing is essential before completing the process of mobile application porting. The QA testing is performed on the target OS platform and the mobile device on which the porting procedure will be conducted.

Both expertise & experience are required in mobile application porting; but with the gradual adoption of the process in the mobile world, mobile app porting is now being accepted across all major OS platforms like Android, iOS, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone. Development experts can port apps from one platform or device to another without compromising on the functionality of the existing components. Mobile application porting is being widely accepted because it leads to the expansion of the market for both devices & apps.

Copper Mobile, a Dallas based mobile application development provides mobility consulting solutions to various industry verticals. The firm has a dedicated team of iOS, BlackBerry, Android application developers and iPhone app developers to create robust solutions for enterprises