Mobile devices aren’t just computers you can carry around. They’re extensions of your personality. For some people, they’re the only entry point to their digital lives. Seasoned vets of the mobile space must learn:

  1. The device your customer has is not the one you tested. It doesn’t matter how many devices you decided to use to test your mobile app — someone out there has something that will break it. It’s up to you to know how to handle that.
  2. Your user’s phone can lie when you ask where it is. Sometimes a phone will get its location wrong by accident, but sometimes it’s on purpose. Don’t bet everything on a device giving you the right answer to the question, “Where are you?”
  3. You need to get serious about internationalization and localization. Mobile phones are just that: mobile. Think about what happens to your user when your mobile app moves from one region to another.
  4. In some geographies, faster processors and higher resolution cameras are what sell a phone, but other cultures value the longest battery life above all. This affects what your app should do — and sometimes, what it can do.
  5. Android and iOS lead today, but don’t rule out an alternative OS. Fuchsia is hungry to expand, as is Harmony/HongMeng. Future mobile OS development won’t be limited to North America.

Learn More About Mobile Devices

We’ve come a long way from the beige box under your desk, where screen size was the only real differentiator. Today’s users demand high-quality apps that let them use their devices to their greatest potential. To understand deeper, read The Top Five Facts Mobile Development Leaders Should Know About Devices.