Lecture 1 - Introduction to Mobile Application Development

Summary

This lecture introduces mobile application development, highlighting the types of mobile apps and their uses, such as e-commerce, games, and social media. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different development approaches, including native, hybrid, and web app development. The lecture emphasizes the importance of understanding mobile platforms like Android and iOS, market trends, and the development process, which involves ideation, market research, platform selection, UI/UX design, development, testing, and deployment. It also touches on the significance of performance, development time, and cost considerations in choosing the right development approach.

Takeaways

• 📱 Mobile applications are software specifically designed for use on small wireless computing devices like smartphones and tablets.
• 📊 The two dominant mobile platforms are Apple's iOS and Google's Android, with Android having a larger global market share, especially in Asia.
• 🎮 Mobile apps can be categorized into various types like e-commerce, games, messaging, entertainment, social media, and productivity tools.
• 🇵🇭 Popular apps in the Philippines include Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and GCash, with GCash playing a crucial role during the pandemic for contactless payments.
• 📱 When developing a mobile app, it's important to consider market trends and platform dominance (e.g., Android vs. iOS) to target the right audience.
• 🛠 Mobile app development can follow different approaches: native, hybrid, cross-platform, or web-based, each with its own set of technologies and trade-offs in performance, time, and cost.
• 💻 Native app development for Android involves Java and Kotlin, while iOS uses Objective-C and Swift, requiring specific development environments like Android Studio and Xcode.
• 🔄 Cross-platform frameworks like React Native, Xamarin, and Flutter allow developers to create apps for both iOS and Android with a single codebase.
• 🖥 Web-based mobile apps use technologies like Apache Cordova, Ionic, and PhoneGap, and are built on web technologies deployed on mobile devices.
• 🚀 Mobile app development follows a multi-step process: ideation, market research, platform selection, UI/UX design, development, testing, and deployment.

Q & A

What are the main categories of mobile applications?

Mobile applications can be categorized into e-commerce, games, messaging, entertainment, social media, productivity, music, maps, and news.

How do mobile applications aid in daily activities?

Mobile applications help in daily activities by facilitating transactions, entertainment, and communication, making tasks more accessible and efficient.

What is an example of a popular mobile application in the Philippines?

Facebook is an example of a popular mobile application in the Philippines, used for social networking and sharing information.

How did mobile applications like GCash assist during the pandemic in the Philippines?

GCash, a payment service application, helped during the pandemic by enabling users to purchase goods and services without going outside, which was crucial during lockdowns.

What are the two dominant mobile platforms mentioned in the script?

The two dominant mobile platforms mentioned are Apple's iOS and Google's Android.

Why is Android more prevalent in the Philippines according to the script?

Android is more prevalent in the Philippines because Android-based devices are generally more affordable and accessible compared to Apple's iOS devices.

What are the three main mobile application development approaches discussed in the script?

The three main mobile application development approaches discussed are native, cross-platform, and web-based development.

What programming languages are commonly used for Android development?

For Android development, the commonly used programming languages are Java and Kotlin.

What are the advantages of using cross-platform frameworks like React Native?

Cross-platform frameworks like React Native allow developers to create applications for multiple platforms with a single codebase, reducing development time and cost.

What are the key steps in the mobile application development process as outlined in the script?

The key steps in the mobile application development process are ideation, analytics and market research, app platform selection, UI/UX design, app development, testing, and deployment.

Why is testing an important phase in mobile application development?

Testing is crucial to identify and fix bugs, errors, and usability issues before deployment, ensuring the app works smoothly on different devices and under various conditions.