What strategy to develop your mobile application ?

This is a question I’m asked so often, I decided to paste my latest answer

This is definitely a tough question and very dependant on the inner objectives of your project (target market…), a few points first :

If you want to adress 100% of user-base, use IVR or SMS. If you want to use anything else, be prepared to lose a lot of the available user base!

The second choice would be WAP or xHTML mobile browsing. Never underestimate this solution as it can really bring some efficient service and information into your mobile. Of course it’s not that sexy, but it is efficient!

Third choice : Java. It’s really not a write once run everywhere solution … Firstly, installing the application on the mobile is a pain for the user.. you should always provide a SMS OTA provisioning system. Secondly making a good Java application is an art. There are some tools available to try and simplify the UI design (as regular Java widgets are really bad looking), such as j2mepolish.org or Geniem and those often can lead to good results… but if you run into any problems you’re dead.

Fourth choice : Use Flash Lite, or Flash-like players such as Streamezzo’s or Bluestreak’s. It might be the fastest way to make your mobile application and connect to online services.

Fifth Choice : do it by hand, platform-by-platform using native code… this one is really time- and cash-consuming but gives the best results and lets you really optimize the user experience on each device. Don’t forget that when you have good specifications you can outsource that!

Start with Nokia Series 60, then Symbian S40, then Motorola (Java), Sony Ericsson (Java), HTC (Windows Mobile) and you have most of it…

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