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Brian James
CST 300 Writing Lab
9/8/2019

Mobile Application Development

From video games to financial institutions, mobile applications are the future of software

development. Mobile application development is a growing field in the United States. Android

and Apple will continue to dominate as 90 percent of the total mobile devices have one of their

operating systems and there will be a 31 percent increase in those jobs between 2016 and 2026

(Lassoff, n.d.). Smartphone data traffic was only 18 percent of global IP traffic in 2017, but in

2022 that figure will reach 44 percent (Cisco, 2019). If one is using a wireless non-phone

device, then it will probably have an associated smartphone application that controls it.

Android

The story of Android started in 2003, but they were not owned by Google at the time.

The new company called itself “Android Inc.” and was created in Palo Alto, California by Andy

Rubin, Nick Sears, Rich Miner, and Chris White. They wanted to develop an operating system

that would be installed onto mobile devices. Smartphone technology was not what it is today,

and they were looking for a solution to two issues – device location awareness and user

preferences. As time went on, Android Inc. was noticed by Google. Google made the decision

to buy Android Inc. and turned it into a subsidiary of the parent company in 2005. Soon after, it

changed its name and became known only as “Android.” Between 2005 and 2007, Android

began its first-ever software development kit beta period. Mobile device manufacturers for

phones began using the beta period to develop open standards for the development of

applications on this operating system. By 2008, T-Mobile released a new device that could run

the Android 1.0 operating system. The HTC Dream was the result of years of development. On
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this smartphone, one could use Google Search, Google Maps, Google Contacts, Gmail, and

Media Player. Since that first Android phone, many new operating system updates have

followed, and more companies began producing devices that ran Android.

Sundar Pichai is Google’s current CEO and the product chief for their Android division.

He joined Google in 2004 as head of product management and development for the Google

Toolbar, a web browser function that can perform a Google Search on text (Helft, 2014). Prior

to working at Google, Pichai worked at semiconductor company Applied Materials. Master of

Science degree in engineering and materials science from Stanford University. Then, at Warton

School, he earned a Master of Business Administration.

Rich Miner was one of the early co-founders of Android Inc. He is a major player and

has since changed roles twice to become a Google Ventures advisor and later the head of

educational applications development at Google. Prior to working at Google, he was vice

president at Orange Ventures. Miner attended the University of Massachusetts at Lowell and

earned a Ph.D. in computer science.

Android has many products and services. The Android operating system is where

everything begins and is the primary product for this Google subsidiary. Eight out of ten

smartphones are sold with this operating system (Holst, 2019). Other devices now include

Android, such as televisions, tablet computers, wearable technology, and some automobiles. The

integration of Google personal computer applications into the mobile operating system has been

very popular. The Google Play store is where users of Android devices will go to download new

applications directly to their mobile device. One of the favorites is Google Maps. Maps is a

product that allows users to find their exact location and displays it on a digital map. While this

is a useful application for a personal computer, its utility cannot be understated when using it on
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a mobile device when a person is travelling somewhere away from one’s PC and needs

directions to get somewhere. Gmail is Google’s email solution, and the ability to read one’s

email while mobile has obvious advantages for communicating while away from a computer.

The most popular Google application is Google Search. Search is part of the Android and, like

Gmail or maps, can greatly benefit from mobility. This allows the user to execute searches on

anything, anytime, and anywhere.

Google is a potential landing spot for new developers. They are approaching 100,000

employees by 2020 and have been continuously hiring for many years (Farfan, 2019). Their

headquarters is in Mountain View, California, and the campus goes by the name “Googleplex”.

They have 154 offices worldwide and were worth $132.2 billion in 2018.

Google has a great reputation as a company. They rank as the sixth best liked by

employees (Valet, 2019), and the second most valuable brand (The World's Most Valuable

Brands, 2019). Their offices have amenities such as swimming pools, two-story climbing walls,

Swiss-style gondolas, meditation rooms, indoor cricket pitches, bicycles, and table tennis.

Trends

Cloud applications are trending in the mobile application industry. Cloud computing is

the action of providing many computer-related services over the internet. In this service-related

architecture, costs to the end users are often reduced based on only accessing necessary data or

services. Cloud applications will drive 90 percent of total mobile traffic this year, and a 60

percent compound annual growth rate in these types of services is expected by the end of 2019

(Mantra, 2017).

Applications that integrate a location-based service are increasing. Google Beacon and

Apple iBeacons are making software for more accurate and practical location information using
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a transmitter. The beacon device starts this process by transmitting the location data to the

listening smartphone. The smartphone will receive the signal from the beacon. The data is

analyzed and classified based on a marketing platform. Finally, a new signal is sent back to the

smartphone with advertisements tuned to the classification (Mantra, 2017).

Trends in the hardware and network portion of mobile applications are encouraging for

the growth of the industry. The number of Internet Protocol devices is already greater than the

number of people living on Earth. The number of these devices will exceed 50 billion by 2020

(Stewart, 2013). 5G technology is the next generation of wireless broadband networks that has

the potential to get download speeds that can be ten times that of 4G. Over 422 million mobile

devices will be 5G cellular capable by 2022 (Cisco, 2019). The lowered latency of this speed

increase will affect many services including transportation, medical services and data

communication. Driverless cars and trucks will soon be delivering people and goods across the

country. Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg believes this when he said, “The pace of technological

change in decades past has been fast. The only thing we know for sure is that, in the future, it's

going to be even faster. We're going to experience a technological shift that will transform

people, businesses and society as a whole.” (What is 5G?, n.d.)

New Developments

There are new developments in the mobile application industry. Android now has a new

programming language called Kotlin, which was sponsored by JetBrains. JetBrains is a global

company that specializes in creating tools for software developers. Kotlin is has full

interoperability with the Java, another language that Android developers use to write code.

Kotlin is also free, and open-source software that has a community that interacts with each other

about the programming language. One can also convert Java code into Kotlin code
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automatically by using some of the features in Android Studio. In the Studio, the “Show

Bytecode” tool allows the programmer to view the Java equivalent code to compare with the

Kotlin code that is written.

Samsung introduced the first smartphone device that can be physically unfolded to reveal

a much larger screen. By default, the Samsung Galaxy Fold appears to be a narrow, but

somewhat thicker device than a typical smartphone on the market. When it is unfolded

lengthwise, a tablet-sized display is revealed. Any applications that were running on the other

screen are instantly rendered onto the larger one and built to fit. Never were smartphones able to

run three applications simultaneously, until now. The foldable tablet will then display three

applications on one screen and supports the resizing of each graphical window (Experience, n.d.)

Android 10 was released on September 3, 2019 and is the latest development of Google’s

mobile applications platform. The operating system has arrived at the right time, as rollouts of

5G networks sweep across the world. Version 10 brings innovations to machine-learning,

support for 5G enabled mobile devices, and interoperability with foldable smartphones (Android

10, n.d.).

Employment in Mobile Application Development

A company that wants to hire a mobile application developer will want to see a

bachelor’s degree in computer science from the potential new employee. Knowledge of Android

or iOS platforms are essential as these are the two most important in the industry today. There

are many duties of the developer, including writing and maintaining code for mobile

applications, porting features between platforms, and integration of databases (Harrison, n.d.).

Mobile application developer is the role that I will focus the most time on and will be the

basis for my future job. Database administration and data analysis are two other roles that fit
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well with this. Each of those two roles could be a job all by itself. I want to develop

applications that leverage database information and display it in a satisfying user experience.

Data analysis would be a great partner to a user experience if one could collect and observe

statistics of self-authored applications. Then a programmer can see which ones are being

downloaded a lot and which are not popular with end users. Knowing what people want is

crucial to understanding how to design future applications. If customers are getting what they

want out of their experience, then they will be more likely to buy my applications from the

Google Play store and the designer will be building a great company reputation.

For prospective mobile application developers, California State University Monterey Bay

offers an all-online computer science program. The class called CST 338 (Software Design) is

the first in a series of lessons. The course teaches essential concepts for software development

like analyzing programming requirements, coding in Java, and understanding software life cycle

at each step. CST 438 (Software Engineering) is a course that teaches students how to construct

heavy-duty software and test it using analysis and specifications. As for electives, CSUMB

offers training in programming Apple iPhone applications with CST 495 (Special Topics: iOS

Programming). The program wraps up with CST 499 (Computer Science Capstone). In this

class, the faculty will pick projects for the students to collaborate on solutions, specifications,

and overall designs. The teachers will then call on the capstone class to submit deliverables on

time to complete the assignments.

Future mobile application developers should understand the main components of the

Android software stack. The software stack is a way to describe the complete set of programs

that operate together to run the hardware device platform. For the Android, the main
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components of this set are the Linux kernel, hardware abstraction, Java API framework, native

libraries, Android runtime, and system applications (Platform Architecture, n.d.).

In addition to the CSUMB online program, those who wish to work on mobile

applications also need to add some experience with coding for mobile devices. Kotlin is the

latest programming language for Android application development. Kotlin training can be found

on the Android website and there is a course offered called, “Kotlin Bootcamp for Programmers.”

By publishing an application and offering it on the Google Play store, a mobile app

developer can improve his or her chances of employment. At that point, a person would have

some work experience to show a potential employer that demonstrates that they know the

development process for applications. As an added value, a business or marketing course can

help to find ways to increase the number of times an application is downloaded by customers.

This could be done by analyzing the download data and basing a strategy from the observations.

If one strategy is not working before the analysis, then a programmer could use a different way

to market the same application. It could then draw more interest in what a developer is creating

and increase reputation through ratings.

Databases are accessed with mobile applications, and it would benefit me to know

something more about them. In the company that I work for, there are potential opportunities to

get real work experience on database administration. I will need to contact my manager in our

next one-on-one meeting and explain what I plan to do. We can then revise my role so that I can

work with the team to help them with it.

Entry level jobs in the mobile software would include mobile application developer,

mobile developer, and entry level software developer with a job description that includes mobile

applications. Many internships seem to be set up for college graduates without experience. I
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would not be looking for an internship because I already have many years of experience in a

technology role. I will be getting the potential job through a direct hire method. To network in

search of a job, I will update my resume and online sources of my job information. I will also

join a professional association called World Organization of Webmasters. Members of their

group can receive training, certifications, career advice from experts, and the chance to showcase

technical experience. (Why Join WebProfessionals.org?, n.d.)

The mobile industry is growing, and the number of wireless devices on the network is

increasing. The need for software developers in this field will create new opportunities for those

who want that kind of work. Android and Apple are leaders in software development for

smartphones and other mobile devices. The online computer science program at CSUMB will

allow a student to gain valuable knowledge and skills to write applications and understand the

software life cycle of mobile development. I will use a combined strategy of university

education, hands-on experience, and social networking to find a great job.

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References

Android 10. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://android-

developers.googleblog.com/2019/09/welcoming-android-10.html

Cisco. (2019, February 27). Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecast and Trends, 2017–2022

White Paper. Retrieved from: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-

provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white-paper-c11-741490.html

Experience. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-

fold/experience/

Farfan, B. (2019, August 5). Google's Global Headquarters and Offices Around the World.

Retrieved from The Balance Small Business: https://www.thebalancesmb.com/google-

headquarters-offices-2892790

Harrison, J. (n.d.). The 50 Highest Paying Jobs in Computer Science. Retrieved from

ComputerScienceZone: https://www.computersciencezone.org/50-highest-paying-jobs-

computer-science/

Helft, M. (2014, October 27). The Incredibly Fast Rise of Sundar Pichai. Retrieved from

Fortune: https://fortune.com/2014/10/27/google-rise-of-sundar-pichai

Holst, A. (2019, June 4). Global mobile OS market share in sales to end users from 1st quarter

2009 to 2nd quarter 2018. Retrieved from Statistica:

https://www.statista.com/statistics/266136/global-market-share-held-by-smartphone-

operating-systems/

Lassoff, M. (n.d.). Mobile Application Developer. Retrieved from ITCareerFinder:

https://www.itcareerfinder.com/it-careers/mobile-application-developer.html
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Mantra, M. (2017, January 18). Mobile App Development Trends To Look In 2019. Retrieved

from ValueCoders: https://www.valuecoders.com/blog/technology-and-apps/11-mobile-

app-development-trends-stay-2017/

Platform Architecture. (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://developer.android.com/guide/platform

Stewart, J. (2013, November 5). The Internet of Everything Including Security. Retrieved from

Cisco: https://blogs.cisco.com/security/the-internet-of-everything-including-

security?dtid=osscdc000283

The World's Most Valuable Brands. (2019). Retrieved from: https://www.forbes.com/powerful-

brands/list/

Valet, V. (2019, April 17). America's Best Large Employers. Retrieved from Forbes:

https://www.forbes.com/best-large-employers/#5baca0b2fb3e

What is 5G? (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://www.verizon.com/about/our-company/5g/what-5g

Why Join WebProfessionals.org? (n.d.). Retrieved from: https://webprofessionals.org/join/why/