The mobile app development folks over at Telerik, a provider of end to end software application, lifecycle and content management solutions, and at Kendo UI, a team that delivers a development platform that is owned by Telerik, have made available an interesting new mobile app development guide, (MDG).  MDG is essentially a reference guide that the Telerik folks have specifically pulled together to help enterprise business and IT decision-makers create suitable alignment between business goals and mobile technology strategies they are looking to implement to achieve those business goals. 

MDG offers actionable technical recommendations for a variety of business scenarios built on a foundation of what Telerik sees every day relative to enterprise mobile decision making.

The Telerik team members that authored the guide – Todd Anglin, VP HTML5 Web and mobile tools, Chris Sells, VP developer tools, Doug Seven, EVP cloud tools, and Stephen Forte, chief strategy officer – all have extensive mobile app development experience across all native, hybrid and HTML5 environments. The key issues covered within MDG include the following:

·         Cross platform/multi OS-devices or single platform/single OS-devices development

·         Development techniques – browser (HTML5), hybrid (native + HTML5) or pure native

·         Flexibility, time-to-market, cost and performance tradeoffs

·         Mobile form factors – one size fits all vs. the tailored experience

·         Mobile websites vs. mobile browser apps

·         Future disruptors and what you need to know today – Windows 8 and Windows Phone (News – Alert) 8; Chrome OS, Firefox OS and Tizen; 7-inch tablets and platform proliferation

MDG also provides a very useful set of "pro and con" viewpoints for each of the available approaches, in addition to discussions centered on the right scenarios each approach should be applied to. MDG also highlights the key concerns that need to be addressed during the decision making process.

Todd Anglin notes that “Making the wrong decisions can – and most likely will – significantly impact the cost, capabilities and reach of your mobile apps. The goal of the Mobile Developer Guidance is to offer both business and IT decision makers some key considerations and focus, surrounding their mobile strategies. In it, we discuss the two elements core to any mobile development project – which platforms to support and why, as well as how to plan for apps to be developed to support the platforms. Our hope is that this document will be useful at multiple levels to ensure that the choices made today will support the overarching goals of the business not only today but in the future.”

The guide is particularly relevant now that the World Wide Web Consortium has completed its HTML5 standard. As HTML5 goes into fast forward mode, its application to an enterprise’s mobile apps will become critical. In so far as MDG helps businesses to clearly understand how HTML5 should be deployed (or not deployed), the guide arrives at a very useful point in time.

The Mobile Developer Guidance is available for download on the Kendo UI website and is free of charge.