We do a lot of mobile development here at Aeshen on iPhone, iPad, Android, and Windows Phone 7. One of the things that we see frequently is clients requesting custom functionality that exists in whole or in part in some pre-made component.
We think that finding a partner that understands the native capabilities for a platform and the associated Software Development Kits (SDKs) is important for customers to get the best development choices. There are absolutely times when the design or the user experience of an application necessitates creating a custom control in lieu of using a pre-made component, but, at least, when the application is being design and the requirements being formulated, clients should have a partner that can point out capabilities that are readily available from SDKs or other third party tools and the trade-offs in functionality, experience and cost between using those components when compared to writing custom controls. “Out of the box” components often fall short in terms of functionality, but in some cases you may find that existing components provide most (80-95%) of the functionality you’re looking for. Then it becomes an issue of doing the cost benefit of creating a custom control to get that additional functionality. There are other cost considerations. A completely custom control will need to be QAed more thoroughly, whereas a component taken from the SDK is likely more well known, well understood and well tested.
In a world where companies considering investing in a mobile application have to consider 2-5 platforms (iPhone, iPad, Android Phone, Android Tablet, and Windows Phone 7), saving money here and there on development and QA really adds up. You may save enough time to reduce your time to market substantially; you may save enough money to app for another platform for your app!
Posted Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 9:36 am by Bob Carver
Tags: Android, iPad, iPhone, Mobile, SDK, Windows Phone 7
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