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An Objective View of MEAPsNeudesic Mobility Research

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Agenda Objective Overview of MEAPs (Mobile Enterprise Application Platforms)

Where did the acronym come from, and who are the players? How do you define a MEAP? What problems are they trying to address?

Potential issues with MEAPs Potential issues to watch out for when considering a MEAP

Conclusion An alternative approach to MEAPs

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Overview of MEAPs

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                                                 Where did the Acronym come from? MEAP (Mobile Enterprise Application Platform)

Acronym coined by Gartner in 2008 Magic Quadrant report MEAP Definition

Comprehensive suite of products and services that enable development of mobile applications

Typically comprising of a mobile middleware server and a mobile client application

Mobile clients can be native applications or HTML-based, depending on the vendor offering

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Who is Playing in this Space? MEAP Vendors

As listed in Gartner’s 2011 MEAP Magic Quadrant Antenna, IBM (Worklight), Kony, Pyxis, RhoMobile, Sybase, Syclo

Not mentioned, but same category Red Foundry, Appcelerator

Neudesic Experience Red Foundry, RhoMobile, Pyxis (analysis or previous use with

customers)

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What are MEAPs Trying to Solve? Write once, run on virtually any device

Write application in single language and re-compile for native platform

Take advantage of device hardware Provide abstraction layer to take advantage of the device

hardware Integrate with different data sources

Set of adapters for XML, databases, Web services, SAP, Siebel, etc. Deployment of application

Hosting of application, manage updates, and analyze usage Management of devices

Asset management for devices, and restrictions for trusted devices

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Haven’t we been here before? The History of Cross Platform Development

Late 90’s provided for multiple cross platform solutions http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rapid_application_development_tools

Embarcadero/Delphi, Smartface, Panther, FoxPro, VisualWorks, XPower

All had many of the promises of MEAPs

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Potential Issues with MEAPs

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1Language Abstraction

Be wary of MEAPs that offer a language abstraction

New language for developers to learn

Even if “based on Java/JavaScript” it will still introduce new libraries unfamiliar to developers

Developers generally shy away from this approach

Example: Force.com / APEX

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2Language Limitations

Understand the limitations imposed by abstracting multiple languages

Abstracting multiple languages to a single language will always reduce in a LCD (Lowest Common Denominator)

Methods and properties will become LCD artifacts

Especially true in “v1.0” MEAPs where all of the controls are not covered

Example: Red Border Example with a popular MEAP

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3Platform Limitations

Understand what platform limitations might arise when using a MEAP

What happens if things change underneath? New devices? New OS upgrade? New version of the SDK?

Often have to wait for the MEAP vendor to catch up in order to use these features

Example: Bluetooth 4 profile in iOS 5.1

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4UI Abstraction

Does the MEAP vendor force you into abstracting UI controls and components?

Often stuck with cookie cutter themes supplied by the MEAP vendor Demo well, but can be difficult

to change What happens when one platform

supports a UI nuance that the others don’t?

Example: Page curl transition. Not supported on any platform

(degrades application) Supported only on one platform

(breaks promise of MEAP) Hacked solution on all platform

(poor experience)

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5Tooling

Does the MEAP vendor provide the tooling support to meet your developers needs?

Often web browser based, something new or Eclipse Add in

Looks great in a demo, but often tooling doesn’t support existing lifecycle SCC? Unit Testing? Refactoring?

Aimed towards business analysts? Tried and failed Business analysts should not be

designing UI Business analysts should not be

writing code

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6Data Abstraction

Are the data abstraction components supplied by the MEAP vendors the right ones?

Offer integration adapters for XML, DBs, SAP, Siebel, and more

You often pay more for the “enterprise-class” adapters

Really going to be optimized for your application? Synchronization? JSON/REST formatted? Subsets of data based on

query? Can result in poor performance

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7Debugging

What happens when things go wrong with your MEAP application?

The application crashes 1 time in 10 – or one of those difficult to fix bugs? Apple/Google going to help? Ask other developers on

forums? Pay MEAP vendor to look into

the problem, to hopefully diagnose and debug the issue for you

What happens in you deploy your application to the AppStore and it gets rejected? Only the MEAP vendor can help

you resolve the issue

Don’t underestimate the importance of developer support in the community

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8Difficult to Extend

Does the MEAP enable you to easily extend applications with non-MEAP code?

Found a new JavaScript library Or a native control/component

that’s really going to help your application

Is this supported? Wait until the MEAP vendor

supports it? Use a bridge to native code?

What happens if you acquire a mobile application from another department or company? Is this going to use the same

MEAP?

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Vendor Lock In MEAPs Potentially Lock In You and Your Developers

Language, Platform, and Tooling is no longer in your control, and often miss out on language and device specific features

Developers locked into the MEAP platform using reduced toolset MEAPs Can Be Expensive

Initial platform costs “Value Add” costs for additional controls and adapters Service and support costs when things need changing

MEAP Hosting Models May Not Flexible Often don’t offer on premise and cloud based offering You “give” your application to them to be hosted

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An Alternative Approach

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Reviewing the Potential Write once, run on virtually any device

Write application in single language and re-compile for native platform

Take advantage of device hardware Provide abstraction layer to take advantage of the device

hardware Integrate with different data sources

Set of adapters for XML, databases, Web services, SAP, Siebel, etc. Deployment of application

Hosting of application, manage updates, and analyze usage Management of devices

Asset management for devices, and restrictions for trusted devices

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1Write Once, Run on Virtually Any Device Using HTML5 to achieve cross

platform application development

WebKit (Safari/Chrome) offer very good support for HTML5 constructs

GeoLocation, Local storage, and Offline supported with no add-ins

UI Frameworks (such as jQuery Mobile) can be used to emulate native controls in HTML

<native=“true”> attribute can be used to interact with more native controls

Multi-headed MVC model allows code to be shared between mobile and desktop applications

Quick developer adoption (especially those with previous background in HTML, CSS, and jQuery)

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2Take Advantage of Device Hardware

Using PhoneGap/Apache Cordova to bridge Mobile Web and Native functionality

Open source (Apache MIT license) framework to bridge Mobile Web and Native applications

Supports contacts, camera, accelerometer, file system, and push notifications

Plug in model for additional native support if required

Acquired by Adobe, donated to Apache Software Foundation (Cordova)

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3Integrate with Different Data Sources

Moving to REST/JSON middle out approach

Unless exception case, standardize on REST/JSON/HTTP(S) for all mobile communications

Standard and lightweight, and well supported by mobile SDKs and/or jQuery/XHR

Widely supported by server, cloud platforms, and server-side products

Two important patterns: Synchronization (to support offline) and Asynchronous (e.g. lists in native application)

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4Deployment of Application

Considering best deployment approach for each application

HTML5 applications require no deployment

Many BI shell applications are updated via public AppStore and content comes from internal URL (e.g. RoamBI)

Native enterprise applications can often be deployed via simple method (shared APK or IPA file on file share)

Solutions for mobile development and testing in the enterprise (TestFlight)

If need more, consider dedicated MDM solution

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5Management of Devices

Tap in to the pool of multiple vendors offering MDM functionality

Very active space with a handful of select vendors (MobileIron, Afaria, Zenprise)

Most focus on asset management, application deployment and management, and application security

Matter of time before large vendors start offering products (Microsoft, HP, IBM Tivoli)

Key focus is BYOD vs. managed devices, especially sandboxing

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Conclusion

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Conclusion MEAPs are early in the hype cycle, offering to quickly solve five

key problems with mobile application development While the problems hold true, be very wary of vendor lock in and

taking your organization down a path with limited future options Consider alternatives, including HTML5 and Hybrid model for

development, while solving deployment and management with dedicated products

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Thank You

Simon GuestDirector, Mobility Solutions

Neudesic, LLC

simon.guest@neudesic.com@simonguest