Challenges for Web AnalyticsApplications on Mobile Platforms

Abstract: The mobile industry has seen tremendous growth over the last decade, with both mobile hardware and software rapidly improving. This opens up new possibilities for mobile applications and allows them to expand into areas that were previously reserved for desktop applications. One of these fields is web analytics, which Vizzit wishes to explore by creating a prototype mobile web analytics application. This master thesis project investigates whether mobile devices are a suitable platform for web analytics applications, and what challenges are involved, both from a general, topdown perspective, as well as a more detailed developer perspective. The results of the investigation suggests that it is definitely possible to create a mobile based web analytics application, but not without challenges and limitations. For example, tablets proved to be much more suitable than smart phones because of their larger displays. One must also consider crucial factors such as the application type (native or web-based) and target platform and their implications. For example, JavaScript is used for almost all mobile web development, but there are some limitations and challenges posed by the language itself. Finally, for data-driven applications such as web analytics programs, efficiency problems and usability issues also arise when fetching large amounts of data remotely.