The PC giant Microsoft is making waves in the mobile application development arena with its up and coming operating system called Windows 8. This new version of their operating system has been developed with mobile devices in mind and is Microsoft’s move to stay relevant it the changing tide of personal computing. Although desktop computers still accounts for the majority of use in homes and businesses worldwide, consumers are increasingly adopting smartphones and mobile tablets as their choice of computing tool. Microsoft has fallen behind in the mobile arena and Windows 8 is their response to market demands.

In the past, the Windows operating system has been notorious for being processor intensive along with requiring a large amount of disk space to store application files. This has made it a challenge as a contender for mobile devices. The new Windows 8 will require less system requirements than its predecessor. Additionally, it will run on traditional desktop PCs and laptops built with Intel processors as well as ARM processing chips that are the core of touch devices such as tablets and smartphones.

The new user interface is a huge change from the past with a clean and intuitive layout based on the “Metro style” design first introduced in Windows Phone 7. The reinvented operating system will run Metro Style apps that are fast, fluid and designed to enhance user interactivity regardless of the device they are running on. The user experience for Windows 8 will be similar on both desktop computers and mobile devices. Metro apps respond to touch on devices that support it while remaining compatible with more traditional input devices such as a mouse.

Metro apps will run in full screen mode, effectively hiding the operating system to remove clutter on the screen. This more engaging approach to personal computing draws the user into the experience so they can focus on what they are doing. On the startup screen, Metro apps are presented in tiles that feature status and activity updates intended to engage the user with the data they care about the most. This approach is a break away from the icon based home screens that are prevalent on Apple and Android devices and intended to provide a more engaging user experience.

Cloud based computing will also play a role in the future of Metro apps. Users will easily be able to share content on their social networks as well as other devices they are connected to. Running Windows 8 on both a persons desktop computer and mobile device means greater integration of shared data without having to deal with cross platform issues, effectively bridge the gap between mobile and PC.

Metro apps will be sold exclusively in the up and coming Windows Store, a marketplace similar to the popular Apple Store where users can purchase apps to suit their needs. The store will focus on simplicity and provide a safe portal to purchase quality apps that have been tested for performance and security. Community developers will be able to use the new APIs and development tools to build Metro style apps where they can submit to the Windows Store.

With the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablet devices, mobile apps have become a way of life for many users. The market demand continues to rise and proves that they are not just a passing fad in today’s ever-changing technology trends. Microsoft’s new approach will certainly keep their operating system relevant in the new mobile world by giving consumers what they want and have come to expect in personal computing.

The demand for mobile application development is increasing day-by-day, many new concepts are coming into the market to improve the mobile app industry. One such is the cross-platform mobile application development.

Before the introduction of cross-platform mobile development, there was a major drawback in the mobile app industry. The application developed using the Android platform did not suit the iPhone smartphone. Likewise, the application developed with the help of MAC OS did not fit into the Android-based smartphone. This issue was considered as a major drawback in the mobile apps development industry.

If an entrepreneur required a mobile application for his business purpose, he had to develop the application in all the platforms. This proved to be very expensive for the business entrepreneurs.

The cross-platform mobile development serves as a solution to the above problem. There are many resources available for the developers to develop a cross-platform mobile application. Few are listed below:

Rho Mobile Development: It is a Ruby-based framework that is helpful for the developers to develop a cross-platform mobile application. Using this framework, the application developers can develop a mobile application that is compatible with other platforms as well. It is an open-source framework that is named as Rhode. The developers need to write only the initial code. The framework then converts that code into a suitable application code that is compatible with all the platforms and operating system.

Phone Gap Development: Using the Phone Gap, the developers can create applications for iPhone, Android, Symbian, Blackberry and Palm. The HTML and JavaScript languages are used here for the development of cross-platform mobile development.

Titanium Development: The titanium framework helps the developers to develop applications for mobile, desktop and for the tablet. The languages used here are HTML, JavaScript, Python, PHP, etc.

There are some more resources available in the market for the cross-platform mobile app development, but they are not effective like the above-mentioned three resources.

Currently, the demand for the cross-platform mobile app development is very low in the market when compared to other individual platform’s applications. However, once if the business entrepreneurs start using it, they will enjoy the great advantages in terms of money and time. Emphatically, the business entrepreneurs must start using these kinds of resources to increase their business revenue and clients. Day by day the resource for the multi platform app development is increasing. There is no doubt that in the upcoming periods mobile application will be a great boost for the business entrepreneurs.

The modern version of an office workspace is not of one which is restricted to four office walls, a desktop computer, and a small area of carpeting. Office workers and executives from every corner of every business and industry are demanding more intelligent mobile applications as they are required to have access to analytical data regardless of their proximity to the office. Business intelligence solutions for mobile devices create an office everywhere you are. To take your company into the next phase of business computing means investing in mobile business intelligence. Mobile BI increases a company’s ability to make educated business decisions in real-time, based on agile interpretation of various data streams.

The market for mobile business intelligence solutions is growing exponentially but until now has only been a very small niche in the overall BI market. As a result, advancements in the technologies designed to support and provide BI to users have been slow and inconsistent. Recently though, wireless and remote devices have had ever-increasing access to faster and faster web services. As mobile devices become more powerful many also become less expensive. The fall of two of the largest barriers (speed and accessibility) the door to mobile business intelligence is opening wider, allowing more users more access to important data while on the move.

Developers interested in building BI applications for mobile devices typically have two development options. One could develop native business intelligence apps which is an attractive method if you need apps with the best possible user-experience for one particular mobile platform. If you’re developing only for Windows devices native apps can provide tremendous results. However as some companies begin instituting bring-your-own-mobile policies, developing apps to function over many devices is the only way to provide access to everyone who needs it, and everyone is going to need it. There are different methods and languages which can be used to write apps for use across platforms each with individual attributes, some positive and some negative, depending on how it’s going to be implemented. What is most important is that mobile applications that provide business intelligence through smartphones and tablets is becoming a big part of the standard operating procedure for managers and decision makers involved in virtually every area of industry all over the world.

As the conclusion to 2011 approaches, the use of business intelligence in mobile application development is growing in popularity but remains in the early stages of utilization. It may be true that mobile BI is new on the scene, but there is proof that it is not just a fleeting trend, proof that can be observed all over the development landscape. Tablet ownership is up, as is tablet use in the office and among executives, and companies are implementing mobile data sharing strategies at rapid rates. The development of mobile apps to provide detailed, real-time data on tablet and smartphone devices grows alongside the numbers of users. Companies not already heavily invested in mobile have been making plans to use the convenience and quickly updated nature of mobile BI solutions to carry themselves into 2012.