1. Environmental Analysis

It can be difficult to begin mobile software development without understanding the market you are about to enter into, which is why we would recommend spending some time carrying out some Environmental Analysis. Things to be aware of are how the market is developing, what issues the market currently faces and where, your target hardware is heading. Most importantly, it is essential to have a good understanding of your strengths and weaknesses so you can try to anticipate any eventualities you may need to face when developing your app.

Where should I start?

Try making a list of your strengths, specifically what kinds of projects you have conducted so far, any subject areas you specialize in or any IP (intellectual property) rights or Patents you hold. These can all be valuable tools when developing software. The list will help you to understand your capacity and forte so you can identify potential resource issues or knowledge gaps before you get commit resources to a project.

What’s trending among developers?

Ensure you engage with your peers in the application development community as often as possible to maintain awareness of the market and any exciting trends you should be aware of, like location based services or social networking for example. You could find yourself collaborating on a project or bug fixing the next big thing, providing valuable platform experience.

How is the market evolving?

Market intelligence will be a crucial factor in your application’s success. Find out about the latest technical trends, what strategies major businesses are adopting and what devices are out there. Read industry reports and I.T. news related to your area of interest. We would also recommend seeking out “power bloggers” involved in the application development scene to acquire the latest industry information.

2. Ideation

Making a concept into something more tangible happens through Ideation. This is the process of refining your concept, adding structure and form to your idea to ensure your concept is robust enough to succeed in the rapidly growing apps market.

During Ideation, you should review the following factors:

• What are your apps unique selling points?
• What does it actually do?
• How would someone use it?
• What is the competition like?
• Who is the target market?

You should also consider how the service will run once it has been launched, managed on a day-today basis, any potential future updates or upgrades and how/if you can generate revenue from it.

3. Target Selection

By now you should have a target device in mind, but it is always worth considering application compatibility across various devices. As Samsung devices have many different exploitable advantages and features your app can make use of, we would suggest examining a variety of Samsung devices to ensure the perfect fit for your app.

Variable requirements to consider are:

• Development environments (Platform, browser, Programming languages etc)
• Graphic libraries (Open GL ES, direct X, Flash etc)
• Target device specifications & features (Screen size, resolution etc)
• Input (camera, buttons, keypad, touch, tilt sensors etc)
• Connectivity (2G/3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, WiMax, RFID, NFC etc)

Find out more about the products offered by Samsung via the links below.
Device Specs