Mobile Application Development

With the mixture of hardware, cheaper process, and improved performance, mobile devices are a perfectly acceptable application platform.  The hardware is divided into several groups based off of processing power and functional capability.  These are Smart Phones, PDAs, micro PCs and appliances.  Not to mention stuff in development that we probably do not even know of yet. All of this activity places a demand on mobile application development. Image XL is the leader in this area of business needs.

To support each of these unique hardware platforms, Microsoft has several operating systems and several version of .Net.  This is because each platform has unique advantages and constraints.  For mobile devices there is XPe or Embedded XP, Embedded 2008, Windows CE or Windows Embedded Compact, Pocket PC or (Windows Mobile Classic) and lastly Smartphone or (Windows Mobile Standard).  For the .Net supported devices these are the .Net compact framework, .Net micro framework and for the Embedded versions of XP and 2008 there is .Net standard.

Let’s focus on the .Net mobile framework for Mobile Application Development.  Starting with the standard one of .Net standard, this version of .Net is preferred for use with the embedded version of the operating systems.  It is exactly the same framework running on most web sites and used in desktop applications.  Any differences in design, development or deployment would be due to the embedded nature of the operating system rather than this particular version of .Net. This of course is probably the most widely used.  Moving to the .Net compact version, this version of .Net is similar to standard but reduced.  Developers like the fact it supports most of the same concepts found in standard.  This allows developers familiar with desktop and server applications to move easily to developing on mobile devices.  Although probably not used as much as standard this version is also widely used. Image XL is readily available to help your make your mobile application development decisions.

Lastly there is the .Net micro, this is meant to be used on smaller processors and devices with a very small amount of memory, usually less than that of the typical device.  The framework does not require an operating system but resides directly on the hardware.  The program needs to be compiled directly on the processor and not all processors support it.  Being the version that is most restrictive this version is not used as much currently, especially with all the advances in hardware being made.

Regardless of which type of mobile application development is used the fact that there is a choice is rather remarkable. Image XL has the right knowledge in the mobile application development and can design an application that will work on any device, even if they have to compile directly on the processor.  With the price of hardware becoming cheaper this is something that we have yet to see the full use of.  But the future is closer and as devices become more powerful and with more memory in a small form factor, we will see a lot more applications written to support these devices. 

Some will be extremely useful and others nothing more than a game. Whichever platform is used for your mobile device you can rest assured something will be developed for it.