2016 in Retrospect: Mobile App Development

2016 has been a relatively quiet year for mobile application development, with only moderate updates to many of the development platforms out there, and only a few new releases. But progress is still happening and the next new “breakthrough” technology could be just around the corner.

There’s more than just the development platforms though, so let’s get into some of the other factors driving mobile app development first.

Mobile OS Updates

The cadence of updates for Android turned out to be more of a lull year for Android, with version 7.0-7.1 / Nougat bringing only a few new features, none of which are particularly flashy – yet still helpful for mobile developers and users alike.

Most notable were the new split-screen display mode, which has been available on Samsung’s Galaxy branded phones for some time now, and Google switching its runtime environment to Open JDK to counter an ongoing legal battle with Oracle over a small snippet of code that was in its own Apache Harmony implementation. Despite the motivation for the switch to OpenJDK, there are some benefits for developers from the exchange, including the ability to utilize the latest and greatest Java updates incorporated in the open-source (and constantly updated) platform.

Android Nougat

On the iOS side, Apple put user experience front and center, with a slew of new features, some of which are playing catch-up with Android devices – such as the addition of widgets. For developers, the new widget addition is especially something to take note of, as well as the ability to display some preview information using the 3D touch shortcuts. The Apple Maps API is finally available to third-party developers, so integration with other applications is now available. Integration with your IoT devices also just got a whole lot better, with Homekit and the Home app receiving new capabilities to control smart home gadgets in a more unified capacity, while also integrating with Siri for voice control.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform has not experienced a good year – with market share decreasing from 1.2% in 2015Q4 to just .3% in 2016Q3. While Windows 10 PC users received the Anniversary update, some of the new features did trickle down to the Mobile Version. Seeing the market share drop to such abysmally low levels makes it seem completely feasible that platform support be scrapped in the next year or so.

Wearable Technology Updates

To some extent, wearables took a back seat in 2016. Since smart watches were initially released, adoption rates have been very lackluster.

Android Wear 2.0 is coming…in 2017. It’s reported that this will be a major overhaul of the platform, including new features such as standalone applications, its own play store, and a new user interface implementation. Developers wanting to get a head start on developing for the new platform can access the developer preview and build applications with the API.

The Apple Watch series 2 was introduced in September 2016, accompanied by watchOS 3, which comes with a handful of refinements, both removing and adding functionality to the relatively new platform. There’s not much to report for new abilities for developers – the platform is still rather locked-down, although the improvements for keeping applications in memory and providing more up-to-date application information do provide a more compelling use case for developing wearable apps for watchOS.

Virtual Reality

2016 was clearly the year of VR – with Sony releasing Playstation VR and the release of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, many of the big players are showing some serious effort in piquing consumer interest. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Google have been laying the groundwork for VR by setting standards for VR hardware implementations – with Google introducing their Daydream VR headset and Microsoft announcing that in 2017 manufacturing partners will be selling their own branded VR headsets that offer high-end capabilities with a middle-tier price.

With VR hardware becoming more mainstream, for developers this could be an opportunity to get in on the new trend by getting accustomed with the respective APIs. This does lead to the obvious issues that are going to emerge from platform fragmentation. Microsoft’s partnership with manufacturers definitely gives it a competitive edge, but otherwise the lack of a unified platform for development will almost certainly discourage some developers from contributing to the VR movement.

Most notably missing from this segment is Apple, which has shown little to no interest in providing their own VR iteration. Who knows – they may be onto something, since there certainly have been many new breakthroughs in technology that never gained traction with consumers.

Mobile App Development Platforms

Enterprise mobile application development seems to be a big focus in 2016, as more companies realize benefits of workforce mobility. Gartner’s 2016 Magic Quadrant leader list is a good resource for indicating which platforms made the most achievements over the last year.

IBM made some notable contributions with their MobileFirst hybrid mobile app development platform, and also partnered with Apple to develop more than 100 applications with specific iOS features. Salesforce was also big on mobile development, with their App Cloud increasing greatly with third-party offerings, and increased capabilities for their mobile app development platform. Meanwhile, Microsoft’s investment in Xamarin has led to a handful of new features, including an Open Sourced Xamarin, improvements to the IDE and integration with Visual Studio, and a long list of updates for Xamarin Forms – moving it towards a goal of being a more viable production-usable development method. Adobe’s AEM Mobile platform also fared well, with its interesting approach to allowing both native and hybrid app development.

Other major developments with mobile app platforms is the increasing popularity of Hybrid Mobile App development, which is also clearly indicated with the results of Gartner’s Magic Quadrant leader list. However, there’s now a new contender joining the ranks – platforms that compile native components while still technically being hybrid development frameworks. I was most interested in the introduction of React Native, which makes use of the react framework to build (somewhat) native mobile apps.

Of course you can’t mention hybrid mobile app development without bringing attention to the long-awaited release of Angular 2 in 2016. While not specific to mobile apps, Angular 2 drives the capabilities of many hybrid app frameworks, and is a completely rebuilt version of Angular which boasts entirely new architecture and many performance improvements. We should be seeing this new release trickle its way into production systems throughout 2017 and later, since the upgrade process requires significant development initiatives.

Another interesting development is that we are getting much closer to having good platform development options for cross-platform development of desktop applications. This isn’t exactly mobile application development news, but no doubt mobile app development practices and platforms helped spur this movement. 2016 has been a busy year for the Electron platform, and I foresee it to only continue gaining popularity in 2017 with the much-anticipated release of Ionic 2, which will incorporate integration with Electron, potentially allowing developers to create applications for every major operating system – both mobile and desktop - with a single code base.

Mobile Failures

Aside from the 32% decline in wearable shipments in the second quarter of 2016 (according to IDC), there were a few other flops along the way.

Niantic’s Pokémon Go application faded into obscurity as fast as it climbed up the app store ranks, despite its innovative combination of location-based gameplay and augmented reality utilization.

Hardware and software failures were an issue as well, one of which was the debacle with Samsung’s exploding Note 7 which led to some rather amusing content on YouTube. Apple also had its own issues with iOS, shown by having a failure rate higher than Android’s for the first time ever. The issues can be chalked up to defects with the 9.3.1 and 9.3.2 updates. Despite providing a substantial set of upgrades with iOS 10, the new version also introduced decreased battery life for iPhones.

Mobile Successes

Although it hasn’t made big splashes in the headlines, smartphone integrations with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have really taken off in 2016 and later models. Many of the major automotive makers have implemented head units capable with both solutions, so if you’re planning on buying a new car anytime soon, expect to have many options that seamlessly integrate with your phone.

Mobile device encryption was also in the limelight of 2016, in part due to the FBI’s unsuccessful request to Apple to provide access to the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, although they eventually gained access with the help of a third party using an obscure security flaw. So why is this a success? Well, in Apple’s case, it proves that it takes extreme measures to access secure smartphone data. In December 2015 Google had just released its Android Marshmallow update on their Nexus line of phones, meaning 2016 was the year mainstream consumers purchasing Android phones received the update’s encryption features.

With both mobile platform leaders providing secure, encrypted phones, there are less hurdles to overcome for enterprises looking to implement enterprise mobile applications for fear of data security. Security best practices still need to be applied, but at least it’s been a step in the right direction.

Conclusion

The way I see it, the progressive advancements in mobile technology and development practices from 2016 pave a positive outlook for achievements to come in 2017. The trend of enterprise mobile app implementations doesn’t seem to be slowing down, and for its part Samsung is already tapping LG on the shoulder for production of its next line of smartphone batteries.

Personally, I am looking forward to React Native and Angular 2 to increase in adoption rates, as well as an interest in what Xamarin has up its sleeve for 2017.

Here’s to a good year for mobile technology in 2017!