Hello! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m the most recently hired analyst on Forrester’s application development and delivery research team. I’m sure this is a huge relief to previous newest analyst David Mooter, who’s no longer required to bring the (virtual, COVID-safe) coffee and donuts to team meetings.

About Andrew

I’m married and live near Phoenix, Arizona. I moved here after staring out the window at the sleet in Ottawa in February. For my entire career, I’ve been a problem solver. On weekends, you might find me volunteering at an emergency communications unit as an incident communications unit manager.

Before I leapt into the mobile whirlwind, I was building a strong foundation. I graduated from Carleton University right around the time they changed their primary pedagogical language to Smalltalk. As a student and after graduation, I worked for Dave Thomas at Object Technology International.

Even back then, mobile was in my blood: I wrote hobby code for the Newton and PalmPilot.

Interesting Times

I’m coming to Forrester in the middle of a pandemic and putting on the overcoat of guiding clients on mobile development. It’s a cloak that fits well — I’ve been doing mobile development for the past 15 years. I started with mobile Java and then worked on Nokia, Blackberry, Android, and iOS.

I feel like I’m wearing the coat just in time. The winds of change have never blown more strongly than today, as the world has been forced to do more with handheld devices. That’s not a bad thing — we don’t have to have lumps of steel and ABS plastic taking up our desks today. We don’t even need desks!

Most recently, I’ve been focused on mobile marketing solutions — just as the world decided that all the rules had to change again. A push notification is no longer a way to send a splashy ad to you. Instead, it’s a way to let you know your order’s ready.

Research Plans

I and our clients are interested in the mobile space — a space that’s getting bigger and more complicated. Mobile devices are ubiquitous, but these days the landscape is fragmenting once again. Sure, we’re down to only two major OS vendors these days, but the number of tools you can use to build your apps with has skyrocketed! I want to bring some order to the mobile developer’s world.

But just writing code — or having a machine write code for you — isn’t the only thing that has changed. Mobile devices may already be measuring your heartbeats. They certainly track your location. There’s a tricky landscape of privacy and consent that we need to navigate. There are tools out there to help with that — but are they any good? I want you to know.

Lastly, mobile development has moved to the edge. It’s got to do that in a world of still-spotty networks and cloud pricing models that seem designed to lure you in and trap you, then squeeze. With millions — or billions — of customers, some of that needs to happen out on the device.

Touching Base

I’d love to hear your thoughts or questions about the mobile landscape. I’ve handled crisis situations before, and I’ve got lots of opinions. The winds of change are still blowing, and I want to keep you upright. Follow me on Twitter (@AndrewCornwall7) and LinkedIn for more opinions. I’m always available for inquiries and briefings. I’d love to hear from you!