Mobile App Testing

Here in the U.S. it sure seems like everyone and their mother has a smartphone these days. But when you take a global snapshot of the cellphone market it turns out that only 27% of cell owners are sporting a smartphone, according to a recent study by VisionMobile. TechCrunch does a nice job of summarizing the report and including some great infographics:

With all the talk of iPhone vs. Android these days, it’s easy to forget how the majority of the world’s mobile users still make calls and access data: via feature phones. A recently released report (download) from mobile strategy firm VisionMobile takes a look at today’s mobile marketplace finding that, despite the sharp rise in smartphone shipments over 2010 and 2011, global smartphone penetration (by OS) is at just 27%.

Smartphone adoption varies wildly by region, the report finds. Not surprisingly, those markets where 3G coverage is extensive and subscription plans are “post-paid” (as opposed to pre-paid) see the highest smartphone adoption rates. Meanwhile, in markets dominated by pre-paid subscriptions, the real battle is price. Here, Nokia’s mid-tier Symbian platforms and BlackBerry consumer-targeted models are still holding onto significant market share. However, both platforms are now facing threats from low-cost Android phones, thanks to the latter’s pricing versatility. Android devices today sell for anywhere from $100 to $750 (USD), allowing the phones to compete both on the high-end and the low-end of the pricing spectrum.

In the North American and European markets, smartphone penetration is the highest, with 63% and 51% market share, respectively. In the Asia-Pacific region (19%), Africa/Middle East region (18%) and Latin America (17%), it’s much lower.

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And perhaps testing, too. Here’s the story from msn.com:

Blackberry-maker Research-in Motion today said it will offer engineering students BASE (BlackBerry Application Student Entrepreneur) platform to enable them display their creativity in developing applications for its mobile phones.

The service, which will be available in Tamil Nadu, would help third- and fourth-year engineering students develop applications that would be used in AppWorld, BlackBerry Research in Motion India Head of Alliances Annie Mathew said.

AppWorld is the application store of Blackberry.

“It is an excellent example on academicia-industry collaboration. BASE would help them develop applications that will be made available in AppWorld,” she told reporters here.

She said this is the first time that such an initiative was taken by Research in Motion and the reason to select Tamil Nadu was it producing good number engineering graduates.

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If you’re small company (or a lone developer) it would be wise to follow in the footsteps of giants. Consider Toyota’s mobile strategy. First came the idea: the company wanted to build an app that would let consumers shop among its 16 types of vehicles. They would be able browse more than 130 color options, find nearby dealers, and even take pictures of a vehicle identification number.

Next up, they would need to figure out which platform they would develop (and test) their application on. This is where the story gets interesting. Here’s a few snippets from a recent MacWorld.com piece:

What mobile device should Toyota design for? BlackBerry? That would not have been very kaizen. “If we had developed for RIM devices first and ported to the iPhone, you could have an argument that we were dumbing down our app,” says Michael K. Nelson, interactive communications manager at Toyota who handles Toyota.com. “RIM is not a very sophisticated platform at all.”

Toyota eventually delivered a mobile shopping app tuned for the iPhone, but then followed up with an Android app two weeks later and a BlackBerry app two weeks after that. Then Toyota added the VIN-photo feature to all three platforms. Today, Toyota is working on a tablet app that takes advantage of the iPad 2’s camera.

Companies looking to tap into the power of mobile apps often think they either have to develop a native app for a single platform or a vanilla app for multiple platforms. A native app leverages all of a platforms strengths yet risks the future if the platform falters. A vanilla app can run on and add features across platforms yet usually doesn’t offer a compelling user experience.

In the early days of smartphones, there was only one clear choice for app developer: iPhones. But the emergence of Android devices and all of its OS flavors has cast a harsh light on the issue. A recent Nielsen survey found that Android is the most popular smartphone operating system in the United States, surpassing both iPhone and BlackBerry; mobile app developers can no longer ignore the Android platform.

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A few weeks back, guest blogger Anuj Gupta laid out the basics of mobile operating systems and platforms, where he covered Symbian, iPhone, Windows Mobile and RIM OS among others. Here is part II of the article. In this post, Anuj dives into BREW, J2me, Maemo, Limo Qtopia and others.

Anuj is a Creative Writer, Marcom Consultant and a Technology enthusiast with 4+ years of experience in Mobile technologies and Advertising. He undertakes various freelance assignments apart from his job as a marcom executive in an IT firm. Read more of his writings at http://www.techmodish.blogspot.com/.

BREW (Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless) from Qualcomm

Brew is an application development platform originally developed for CDMA mobile phones, but it also supports GSM  for some devices. It debuted in September 2001 as a software platform. It can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, sharing photos, and the like. The main advantage of BREW platforms is that the application developers can easily port their applications between all Qualcomm devices. BREW acts between the application and the wireless device on-chip operating system in order to allow programmers to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications.

J2me by Sun

Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) is Sun’s version of Java aimed at machines with limited hardware resources such as PDAs, cell phones, and other consumer electronic and embedded devices. J2ME is aimed at machines with as little as 128KB of RAM and with processors a lot less powerful than those used on typical desktop and server machines. J2ME actually consists of a set of profiles. Each profile is defined for a particular type of device — cell phones, PDAs, microwave ovens, etc. — and consists of a minimum set of class libraries required for the particular type of device and a specification of a Java virtual machine required to support the device.

The most common of these are the Mobile Information Device Profile aimed at mobile devices, such as cell phones, and the Personal Profile aimed at consumer products and embedded devices like set-top boxes and PDAs. Profiles are subsets of configurations, of which there are currently two: the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) and the Connected Device Configuration (CDC).

There are more than 2 billion Java ME enabled mobile phones and PDAs.

Maemo from Nokia

Maemo is a software platform developed by Nokia for smartphones and Internet Tablets. It is based on the Debian operating system.

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Part II

Part III

It’s been unusually tough (torch-erous, even) getting good info on BlackBerry’s new device this morning – despite the press conference, blog posts and articles. The best info so far has come from PCWorld.

We read:

The Torch will sport RIM’s BlackBerry 6 mobile operating system which includes a beefed-up mobile Web browser and what is being touted as RIM’s “next generation” messaging system. The new BlackBerry OS also integrates support for Twitter and Facebook and other social networking feeds. The new BlackBerry 6 OS includes MediaSych functionality supporting wireless syncing to a music library via Wi-Fi.

The BlackBerry Torch features a QWERTY keyboard and optical trackpad in a slider style phone. The Torch has a 3.2-inch (480×360) touchscreen, 5MP camera, and has over 1GB of combined RAM/ROM storage, 4GB memory, and sports 4GB microSD card. As for connectivity the Torch supports 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and 3G connectivity.

The Torch weighs in at 161 grams, is 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm large comes equipped with a 1300 mAh lithium battery. The GSM talk time is rated at 5.5 hours and standby time is 17 days.

More details to follow once the news is fully digested.

BlackBerry (RIM) is all set to release OS 6 this week, which has been labeled by some as the “best operating system of all time.” That’s good! The operating system will not be available in the Gulf States, who have instituted a ban on the device and its major features. That’s bad. But Blackberry also announced that it will produce a tablet to rival the iPad. That’s good! The device will probably not steal much attention (or market share) from Apple. That’s bad.

But enough with the editorializing. Here’s the straight dope for the crackberry addicts looking to get their media fix:

UAE BlackBerry ban set to spread throughout Gulf states:

“The United Arab Emirates is banning users of BlackBerry mobile phones from using email, instant-messaging and web-browsing services in a long-running spat over security with the device’s Canadian maker, RIM.

Saudi Arabia is expected to follow suit according to an official from the state-controlled Saudi Telecom, who told the Financial Times that the kingdom would ban BlackBerry messenger services.”

BlackBerry planning iPad rival:

“The device is scheduled for launch in November, according to reports, and will be roughly the same size as Apple’s device. RIM has already acquired the rights to the blackpad.com internet domain.

Users will be able to connect their BlackPad to the internet using the wireless connection of their mobile phone, rather than having to pay separately for 3G network access as users of the iPad must.

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Many have argued that if Microsoft is to catch up with the Apple’s and RIM’s of the mobile world, Windows Phone 7 might be their last chance. This past weekend, the new mobile operating system was unveiled on a select group of devices. Since this is only in the prototype phase, mobile testing remains at a critical juncture. InformationWeek’s Paul McDougall writes:

On Sunday, a company official revealed in a blog post that Windows Phone 7 has been undergoing extensive testing by Microsoft’s own employees. Terry Myerson, VP for Windows Phone Engineering, said more than 1,000 Microsoft workers have been using Windows Phone 7 devices “as their only phone” for the past several months. “We’ve been testing usability, battery life, network connectivity, and many other metrics for a long time,” wrote Meyerson.

Microsoft earlier this month made beta versions of Windows Phone 7 development tools available to application writers. Most of the tools are versions of standard Microsoft developer tools that have been modified for mobile environments.

For most companies, relying on in-house employees to test your mobile software is generally a very bad idea. That said, most companies don’t have 1000 employees to test their products. In other words, most companies aren’t Microsoft. So for that, we’ll grant them an exception.

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Here’s one for all the beta junkies out there. Blackberry Protect – RIM’s newly announced FREE remote backup/restore service – is now available for limited testing. It will be opening up to a larger group later this year. CrackBerry, as always, has a thorough review of the new functionality, but if you’re considering joining the beta testing team, here are the features you’ll likely want to pounce on first:

• Remote Device Management: Locate on map; Activate loud ringer; Lock / password change; Lost and Found screen; Device wipe
• OTA Backup and Restore: Contacts and Calendar; Memos and Tasks; Browser bookmarks; Text messages
• Administration: Based on new BlackBerry user account system (BlackBerry ID); Web-based end user portal; operator call center access

Do you plan on testing this application? Or, like 99% of users, will you wait until you’ve actually lost your Blackberry?

Safe to say that mobile app development has greatly outpaced mobile app testing over the last few years. In other words, while the applications, platforms and operating systems have seen tremendous advances, the same cannot be said of mobile testing methodologies.

Case in point: The majority of mobile app developers are still overwhelmingly reliant on internal beta testing.

Here with proof is VisionMobile, who recently published a fascinating report on the mobile app ecosystem. A must-read for anyone – and I mean anyone – involved with mobile applications (i.e. developing, marketing, sales, etc.) the report should serve to demonstrate that mobile app testing has a long way to go before it’s fully matured. Here’s the key excerpt:

Internal beta testing is the most popular technique used by the vast majority (nearly 70 percent) of respondents, with beta testing with users and peer reviewing the next most popular techniques. Only 20 percent of respondents use focus groups or research of their own. Overall, North American developers are somewhat more sophisticated in their application planning, with 97 percent using beta testing as a standard part of application development and with broader use of a portfolio of planning techniques as well.

Yet, small development firms have limited means today to beta test and peer review their applications with a crosssection of representative users. Given the hundreds of thousands of mobile apps, we believe that efficient
(crowd-sourced) testing of apps in a global market of users is considerably under-utilized. This presents an opportunity for the few solution providers in this segment – Mob4Hire and uTest.com, for example – but also for network operators, who can generate a channel for testing applications with end users, and provide an open feedback support system back to developers.

Other interesting findings included:

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