Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 3) - BlackBerry

In this HOWTO series, we've covered two popular mobile device platforms, webOS and Android, in these articles:

Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 1) - Palm webOS
Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 2) - Android

Today we'll look at BlackBerry. As we've stated in previous articles, our goal is learn enough from developing simple apps on each platform so that we have a better understanding of the platform as testers. And we want to accomplish this without having to buy each mobile device or any development software. Fortunately, developer offerings from RIM meet these requirements, albeit with less hipness than webOS and Android.

Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 2) - Android

Last week we introduced this series on learning how to test mobile device applications based on the idea that developing a simple mobile app on each platform will help you understand how to test them (Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 1) - Palm webOS). And we want to do this for free and without having to buy an actual device. That's worked for webOS from Palm and will work with this week's platform - Android.

And as we recommended in Part 1, testers should start by downloading and installing the SDK and building one of the included apps. For the Android platform, the steps for building your first app is explicitly laid out at Android Developer's SDK page. The instructions provided take you through the following steps:

Learning How To Test Mobile Device Applications (Part 1) - Palm webOS

I recently visited Palm and our friends there gave us a Palm webOS book - signed by the author Mitch Allen (VP, Software CTO at Palm)!  Very cool.  While reading this book I thought I would use this opportunity to start a HOWTO series on learning to test mobile device apps, and model it after the process we used in our labs - develop apps to learn how to test them. Basically, we took testers through the process of setting up a development environment, compiling a simple app and then installing and testing that app.

We'll start with Palm webOS and then cover the iPhone and Android platforms.  The place to start for any of these platforms is the software development toolkit, or SDK.  And in the case of webOS, as the book points out, the SDK is available for free.  It's called the Mojo SDK and it's available at http://developer.palm.com or can be directly downloaded here.

Top 10 iPhone Groups On LinkedIn

Last month we posted an article on the Top 10 Software Testing and QA Groups On LinkedIn. Since I also belong to an iPhone group (iPhone Developers - www.iPhoneintouch.com) on LinkedIn, I thought I'd look to see if there were enough iPhone groups for a similar Top 10 list. As it turns out, there are plenty of iPhone and mobile device groups on LinkedIn and definitely enough to round out a Top 10 list.

Based on membership, the Top 10 11 iPhone groups on LinkedIn are:

11. iPhone Developers Connection (424 members): This group intends to connect iPhone developers, designers, and entrepreneurs with each other. It intends to serve as platform for members to be able to share exclusive info, get peer reviews, get lead user feedback on apps, discuss projects etc.
10. iphone developers worldwide (463 members): Worldwide group for professionals in iphone application development. Contact others, share ideas, business and job opportunities.
9. Cocoa Touch - iPhone Technology Users Group (568 members): Cocoa Touch Developers Network for software developers, managers and marketing professionals working with the Cocoa Touch platform for iPhone and iPod touch.
8. Mad4iPhone - The official iPhone users group (614 members): Connect with the Mad4iPhone community today! Discover 3rd party solutions. This is a constantly growing, online, independent iPhone user group...a network of users and professionals. Solve iPhone problems. Get solutions. Give advice. Connect with other users and experts.
7. iPhone Dev Team (619 members): For all iPhone developers.

Five Million .NET Developers Can Now Cross Over To The iPhone

Novell released MonoTouch on September 14 2009, that allows developers to create C# and .NET based applications that run on the iPhone while taking full  advantage of the iPhone APIs as well as reusing both code and libraries that have been built for .NET as well as existing skills.  That means the door is opened to a lot more developers. "...the big win with it is that it opens the door for some 5 million .Net developers to begin to do iPhone applications" according to analyst Al Hilwa, program director for application software at IDC, as reported in the ComputerWorld article Novell offers iPhone .Net app development kit.

Mobile Device/Smartphone Testing News: Apple, Palm, Android, and BlackBerry

This week has been eventful for all the mobile device platforms with news from each of the major players.

Apple is now at over 75,000 apps in the App Store and shows no sign of slowing down. This week brings plenty of mobile device compatibility testing news with the announcement and shipping of iPhone OS 3.1 and iTunes 9. Apple announces iPhone 3.1



Palm's second webOS-based smartphone was announced this week. A new form factor, both with the keyboard and screen, should present some interesting testing challenges.
Palm debuts Pixi smartphone, its second using webOS





New and very popular apps appear on Android. Is this an indication of app development and testing growth for this platform? Facebook, Pandora Apps Hit Android (Just added: iPhone users aren't the only ones to get cool apps)


RIM's Blackberry is still in the fight for app development market share with news this week. Yahoo announced Finance for Mobile for the BlackBerry Bold, Tour and 8900 series, as well as Yahoo Fantasy Football for Mobile. It's interesting to see specific models listed instead of just "BlackBerry". That means the development and testing compatibility issues are only compounded when you offer diverse form factors. Yahoo intros new iPhone and BlackBerry apps

Mobile Device Application Testing Coverage Expands

The mobile device app space is expanding quickly. Testing for compatibility across different devices within a platform family and across platforms is becoming increasingly complex. Where will development and testing organizations draw the line?

Microsoft luring iPhone developers for Zune apps Developers being offered money to port their apps? If they are successful in luring iPhone developers, you can bet that these apps will need to be tested on both platforms. Are we entering another phase of supporting apps on multiple platforms?

Second webOS-Based Smartphone May Be Delayed Probably news to most that Palm's second webOS device is called the Palm Eos. Was to be available this fall and supposedly smaller than the Palm Pre. Will there be a significant update to webOS when the new devices arrive?

Microsoft Renaming Windows Mobile as Windows Phone Windows Mobile, or WinMo, is expected to change names (WinPho?), probably to reflect Microsoft's new emphasis on its Zune and the mobile device market, particularly the iPhone market.

Dell Confirms Mobile Device Development Based on the rumors, this will expand the Android app market. Looks a lot like the iPhone in this picture.

Samsung's TouchWiz App Development Kit Hobbles Into the Light Samsung's TouchWiz app dev kit is out and it looks like it immediately expands compatibility testing across 3 different smartphone operating systems, Windows Mobile, Symbian and Samsung's own.

Planning to Develop/Test Mobile Device Applications?

If your company is currently providing development and/or testing services for mobile device applications, as we are at RTL, then you will face some business decisions on how best to configure your test lab(s). We began the process to procure and configure our mobile device test lab over a year ago based on current market trends. This was mostly influenced by the success Apple was having with their iPhone and iPod touch App Store.

As it turned out, the establishment of an iPhone/iPod touch test lab at RTL paid off, as we've tested for several iPhone OS developers and expect this to continue as this market matures and developers expand their operations. And, given the success many have had in the iPhone app market, I would expect these established developers, as well as those now entering this market, to look for opportunities on other mobile device platforms.


Naturally, those of use that provide testing services, need to grow our mobile device test labs to best serve those developers that take advantage of the development opportunities offered by each mobile device vendor. One way to analyze the potential opportunity is to "follow the money." And by "money", I mean application distribution. Of the 4 dominant mobile device vendors (Apple, RIM/BlackBerry, Google/Android and Microsoft), there exists 3 application distributions channels, with one (Microsoft's) on it's way:

• Apple's App Store
• Google's Android Market
• BlackBerry App World
• Microsoft's Windows Marketplace for Mobile

But what's most interesting and instructive about these distribution channels is how successful (or not) they've been to attract applications and hence, developer mind share. Based on a article from the mocoNews.net titled Apple Vs. BlackBerry Vs. Google: Testing The App Stores, the number of apps sold through these channels are telling:

• Apple's App Store: 48,000+
• Google's Android Market: Low thousands
• BlackBerry App World: About 700

And the stores vary considerably when it comes to app quality, pricing, and billing, according to Tricia Duryee at mocoNews.net. She says there's "... no consensus on price. For example, Glu (NSDQ: GLUU) Mobile's Build-A-Lot game costs $9.99 on BlackBerry, but $4.99 on Android and $1.99 on Apple (NSDQ: AAPL)". Apple uses their convenient iTunes store for app billing, while BlackBerry requires a PayPal account.

Based on this assessment from a application distribution perspective, I would expect additions to our mobile device test lab to include, at least, a Google Android device in the near future, and probably a Windows for Mobile device just because of Microsoft's ability to take market share away from the current leaders. But what about BlackBerry, and, for that matter, mobile device players like Nokia (Ovi Store) and Palm Pre (App Catalog)? Nokia is well established, but Palm Pre may pull off an upset given their support for WebKit.

It will be both exciting and difficult to make the best business decisions about how to expand your mobile device testing labs. We expect this market to grow and along with it the demand for collaborative testing services on a broad selection of the most popular mobile device platforms.