Mobile apps are getting increasingly short-lived. In B2C (consumer) apps, this is more visible like the Flappy Bird case, but B2E (employee) and B2B (business) apps are also short-lived for various reasons.
New versions of operating systems and new generation devices are being released so fast that it’s not always possible to catch up, especially for enterprises with limited mobile development resources.
The tables below show a general history of iOS and Android versions. So many things change in so little time and adaptation is always an issue since the first versions.
iOS Version History:
Name |
Version |
Release date |
Notable Features |
| iPhone OS 1 | 1.0 – 1.1.5 | June 29, 2007 | First release with standard apps |
| iPhone OS 2 | 2.0 – 2.2.1 | July 11, 2008 | App Store with 3rd party app support (paid update) |
| iPhone OS 3 | 3.0 – 3.2.2 | June 17, 2009 | Copy and paste & iPad release |
| iOS 4 | 4.0 – 4.3.5 | June 21, 2010 | Multitasking & Retina Display |
| iOS 5 | 5.0 – 5.1.1 | October 12, 2011 | Notification Center & iMessage |
| iOS 6 | 6.0 – 6.1.6 | September 19, 2012 | Siri out of beta & Apple Maps |
| iOS 7 | 7.0 – 7.1.2 | September 18, 2013 | Full design change to flat design & Touch ID |
| iOS 8 | 8.0 – 8.4.1 | September 17, 2014 | 4000 new APIs (“Kit”s, Widgets, etc) |
| iOS 9 | 9.0 – 9.3.3 | September 16, 2015 | Improved performance & app thinning |
| iOS 10 | 10.0 | September 2016 | Functional redesign & new APIs |
| iOS 11 (?) | 11.0 | September 2017 (?) | Massive revamp expected for 10th anniversary |
Android Version History:
Code name |
Version |
Release date |
Notable Features |
| N/A | 1.0 | September 23, 2008 | First release with Android Market & Google Apps |
| 1.1 | February 9, 2009 | ||
| Cupcake | 1.5 | April 27, 2009 | Widgets & custom keyboards |
| Donut | 1.6 | September 15, 2009 | Speech synthesis & gestures |
| Eclair | 2.0 – 2.1 | October 26, 2009 | Improved user experience and performance |
| Froyo | 2.2 – 2.2.3 | May 20, 2010 | V8 Engine & push nofitications |
| Gingerbread | 2.3 – 2.3.7 | December 6, 2010 | NFC and sensor support |
| Honeycomb | 3.0 – 3.2.6 | February 22, 2011 | Only for tablets, new Holo user interface |
| Ice Cream Sandwich | 4.0 – 4.0.4 | October 18, 2011 | Holo interface & soft buttons for phones |
| Jelly Bean | 4.1 – 4.3.1 | July 9, 2012 | Improved performance & Bluetooth LE |
| KitKat | 4.4 – 4.4.4 | October 31, 2013 | New APIs & wearable extensions |
| Lollipop | 5.0 – 5.1.1 | November 12, 2014 | Material design & runtime replacement |
| Marshmallow | 6.0 – 6.0.1 | October 5, 2015 | Individual permissions & fingerprint scanning |
| Nougat | 7.0-7.1 | September 2016 | Multiwindow support & Google Assistant |
Just for compatibility with new iOS and Android version and devices, all mobile apps require constant maintenance and that’s just the beginning.
As we always emphasize, your users are not comparing your apps to of your competitors but to the likes of Facebook and Twitter, which are usually used more often than any other app. Therefore, the users tend to expect the same level of smoothness and user experience from any app and even the smallest issue may discourage them using it.
Moreover, users are always requesting more and more features from an app along with an improved user experience. It doesn’t matter if it’s a B2C, B2B or B2E app.
Per our interviews with enterprises, 80% of the initial development cost is an expected value for the yearly maintenance cost of a mobile app. When you consider all the factors outlined above, this figure can even be considered low.
However, deciding not to develop mobile apps and sticking with web alternatives with an inferior experience is not an option. In today’s world, digital transformation is unavoidable for any enterprise and mobile transformation, which consists of mobile app development, has a crucial role in digitalization.
Here are few recommendations to alleviate this issue:
- Focus on quick wins with mobile apps.
- Start with small, potentially disposable apps and build on them.
- Never underestimate the pace of change. Redeveloping an old app with new technologies can be more productive than maintaining it.
- And the last, but not the least, take advantage of platforms like Smartface, which reduces fragmentation and increases productivity by enabling development of native iOS and Android apps only with JavaScript knowledge and maintain their lifecycle end-to-end. Let these platforms worry about fragmentation, app updates and management so that you can focus on your core business.
To facilitate mobile transformation, Smartface Cloud enables you to:
- Develop mobile apps fully in the cloud without worrying about development environment (Xcode, Android Studio) updates.
- Share apps with testers and internal users directly from the cloud and manage the app versions from a single dashboard.
- To build your apps without the need for a Mac
- Distribute your apps to the end users using a single link, without worrying about device fragmentation in the field
- Update your apps remotely with hot deployment to always deliver the latest and the best user experience
Experience Smartface Cloud at https://smartface.io/cloud and see how you can develop and manage your mobile apps in the best and most productive way possible in the fast-moving world of mobility.
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