A Mobile Application Development Strategy-Finding Model

Abstract: Nowadays there are several different types of ways to build a mobile application, through web technologies, or through mobile manufacturers’ languages. Thus, in this study we focus on the three major mobile application development strategies: Native, Hybrid, and Web to Native. This plurality of solutions renders the selection of a mobile application development strategy complex. Hence, this study aims at understanding how developers deal with the selection of a mobile development approach. This thesis analyses their behaviour thanks to a survey that collects crucial information about developers searching habits. The latter analysis concludes that general guidelines are not sufficient to provide a tailored and accurate selection of mobile application development approach. Therefore, this study aims at improving the activity of finding a mobile application development strategy. In addition to this, the past and current states of the subject are discussed in a critical manner, which therefore results in using an analytical research approach. Knowing the aforementioned, a design science research approach is used to outline the iteration processes that occurred during this study. Each step of the study is thoroughly treated thanks to a tailored design cycle. Consequently, a mobile development strategy-finding model has been built by combining literature review and survey’s results. This model highlights the importance of the criteria extracted from the literature review and the survey. To support and allow constant self-evolution of the model, a suggestion of web platform is proposed. Finally, this model has been compared with a Titanium model. The result of this comparison outlines that the model created in this study seems more usable because it comprises the three major mobile application development strategies whereas the Titanium model only focuses in native solutions and its own hybrid solution. Moreover, the Titanium model focuses on selling its product rather than showing why it is better than the other mobile application development strategies.