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Top Ten Pitfalls of Wireless Application Development
Knowing When You’re Ready For Prime Time -
Integrating all the wireless application components and getting them to work as expected is a major
accomplishment. But it doesn’t mean you’re ready to start distributing the shrink-wrap boxes. If you
haven’t scheduled adequate time for pilot and beta testing you’ll soon experience a common pitfall of
many wireless application developers.
The pressure to get an application out the door is tremendous. And many a project manager sees the
testing phase as a perfect opportunity to make up for lost time and schedule overruns. Eliminating or
compressing the pilot or beta cycles may seem like a good idea but resist the temptation. Both phases
have differing objectives and the prospect of entirely different outcomes
Your “friendly” pilot testers are there to determine if the development world bears any resemblance to
the production wireless environment. Odds are there will be differences. These could include latency
and coverage issues as well as time-of-day performance. Don’t forget, even the weather affects wireless
signals and ultimately your application.
Beta testing goes one step further and involves actual target users. It’s where you hope Murphy’s Law
comes into play because if there was ever a time for something to go wrong, better now than later.
The real benefit of pilot and beta testing comes from the opportunity to correct the problems and
deficiencies you find -- before they become expensive “shrink wrap” mistakes. It allows your potential
users to be as excited and pleased with the final product as you were with the original concept.
Underestimating The Real World Challenges -
Planning for deployment and support of your application is one of the last steps before getting it out the
door. It’s often the final opportunity to anticipate, identify and lay the groundwork for future application
changes.
Logistics play a key role in the deployment process and if it’s your first time through you’re bound to
underestimate the complexity, time and effort involved. Considerations include where users get their
devices, how software gets loaded on them as well as who they call when there’s a problem. And what
about that users’ guide? Can you anticipate everything to keep them from making that tech-support call?
Then there are the future application changes. These are an absolute “given” in any development process
but the secret lies in the anticipation and planning. A good developer knows where the technology,
market and application are headed. But a great one anticipates and plans for those changes in the first
iteration, making the transition easier down the road.
Understanding The Certification Process -
Depending on the platform, device or network you’re developing for, you are probably aware of its
certification requirements. In many instances there aren’t any. But as wireless applications proliferate,
devices get more open and complex and carriers more astute, certification requirements and demands are
sure to increase.
Platform certification implies your application is “ready to roll” on a particular operating system. For
example, Palm offers a certification procedure but like the Windows OS, it isn’t mandatory. On the
other hand, some device manufacturers do require certification to guarantee a poor application won’t
jeopardize or tarnish their reputation.
Network certification is fairly uncommon, as carriers have been less concerned with applications up to
now. But wireless spectrum is a precious and limited commodity so if there’s any chance your
application might abuse it; don’t assume they’ll look the other way.
Certification is a right of passage (and often times an opportunity for someone to collect a fee). It’s all
about ensuring your application won’t interfere with another application, the device, network or OS. But
in a wireless world of downloadable applications and transaction-based revenues, certification is certain
to play a much larger role. Make sure you’re ready to deal with it at any and all levels.
Expanding The Application’s Scope -
Getting an application out the door is an accomplishment but real success often depends on what comes
next-- porting that same application to another platform. The catch is if you didn’t begin planning for
this step early on in the process, you’ll likely fall victim to one of the most costly development pitfalls
there is.
For example, you may have launched your application on the RIM platform because it was the best
match for the majority of your users. But your executive cadre really prefers their shiny Platinum Visors.
Obviously, the next logical step is to incorporate this second device.
The trick to successfully expanding your application’s scope is in leveraging as much of the existing
work, code and effort as possible. With the right design and sufficient forethought you can often reuse
the business logic and rules, host application, server, interface design and even the wireless protocol.
Because of the obvious platform differences the device side will require some new effort.
Experienced developers start their application process knowing this day will come. They avoid the
pitfall by recognizing the porting eventuality and planning for it adequately. A skillfully architected
solution simplifies the porting process, eliminates duplicated effort and avoids a considerable amount of
unnecessary time and development expense.
Keeping Pace With Evolving Technologies -
Wireless is far from a stagnant environment. Networks are getting faster, devices smarter and
development effort more complex. How well equipped are you to keep up?
It’s important for developers to have a good understanding and handle on where the wireless
marketplace stands as well where it’s headed. In the U.S. that includes eight or more different wireless
network technologies with the prospects of more on the way.
Devices continue to shift and morph as well, with PDAs incorporating voice and cell phones looking
more like PDAs. Even the development process is in a constant state of flux with new tools and new
middleware products appearing on the scene.
The pitfall for any developer lies in keeping up with all these options and determining which direction(s)
to head. Do you lead the market building a bleeding-edge GPRS application knowing sufficient devices
aren’t available to take advantage of your genius? Do you rely on supposed “magic bullet” middleware
products that abstract the wireless component but add complexity of their own?
These are decisions developers face every day. And making the right choice is often a crapshoot - you
aren’t going to be right every time. What looks hot today could be tomorrow’s dog. But keeping up with
and understanding the implications of wireless evolution means you won’t bet the farm on market hype
alone.
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