ACSIJ Advances in Computer Science: an International Journal, Vol. 3, Issue 1, No.7 , January 2014 ISSN : 2322-5157 www.ACSIJ.org Developing mobile educational apps: development strategies, tools and business models Serena Pastore 1 Astronomical Observatory of Padova, INAF Padova, 35122, ITALY
[email protected] with the several market analysis companies [2]. Mobile Abstract actors involved in the mobile ecosystem (Fig. 1) includes The mobile world is a growing and evolving market in all its devices manufacturers (e.g., Nokia, Samsung, RIM aspects from hardware, networks, operating systems and Blackberry), software platforms providers (e.g. Apple; applications. Mobile applications or apps are becoming the new Google, Microsoft), applications developers and mobile frontier of software development, since actual digital users use operators that in each country (e.g., in Italy Vodafone, mobile devices as an everyday object. Therefore also in an TIM, 3G) provide Internet connectivity. A single mobile educational environment, apps could be adopted in order to take advantage of mobile devices diffusions. Developing an app device is composed by specific hardware and software should not be a decision linked to the trends, but must follow platform that deals with the peculiarities of these systems. specific strategies in choosing target devices, mobile platforms, Mobile devices should follow the user's mobility and distribution channels that in these contexts usually go (therefore mobile devices are generally of reduced size through e-commerce sites called stores (e.g., Apple Store, and weight, such that they can be transported easily). Google Play, Windows Phone store). Furthermore the design of Their hardware components manifest limited processing an educational mobile app requires a careful analysis on the power and memory, little screen dimension, but a variable methodologies to be adopted and the available tools especially if numbers of other hardware such as cameras, network the aim is to build a successful and useful app.