The growing demand for smartphones and their rapid adoption in the B2B and B2C markets has set a new roadmap for improving the quality of service and market share for many companies using mobility.

This booming mobile market is acting as a catalyst for the growing demand for mobile testing services. According to an IDC survey, more than 500 million smartphone shipments are expected by 2014, which will lead to the development of a whole new potential market for validating mobility applications on different platforms (eg Android, Symbian, iPhone , Windows).

While on the one hand mobile app developers or ISVs are releasing newer versions of the apps to support various platforms and mobile phones, on the other non-ISVs such as airlines, retail, healthcare, social networks, entertainment, etc., are creating mobile applications. to increase the size of your market and better serve your existing customers. In short, mobility is becoming a successful business strategy to increase customer engagement and wallet experience, and acquire new customers.

Leading the mobility curve and mobile testing of it are the following industries:

1) Airlines/Travel/Hospitality: Providers have reported increased traction towards the development of mobility applications such as an online portal to book tickets, a mobile scanner to scan passenger luggage, generate boarding passes, etc. which helps speed up the respective process. Such use requires validation of all the necessary applications, since a minor error can lead to disaster. Testing services often used for this industry include performance testing, load testing, UI/UX testing, and security testing.

2) Media and Entertainment: The media and entertainment industry played a vital role in rewriting the rules of using a mobile device. Over 70% of shoppers use iPad, smartphones and tablets for entertainment purposes like watching movies, listening to music, playing games, browsing social networking sites, etc. In fact, media companies are now trying to convert all the content they have on their website to the mobile phone friendly format. All these applications require validation tests for navigation, broken links, and performance tests on portable devices.

3) Retail: The British Retail Consortium (BRC) report says that 1 in 10 retail searches are done using mobile phones and the proportion continues to rise. The retail sector sees mobility as a tool to increase their productivity and profit margins. Tools like inventory management, order management, etc. they have now been implemented as mobile applications giving them the benefits of portability and reduced response time. For such applications developed for the retail industry, performance testing, security testing, and compliance testing are recommended.

4) BFSI: Mobile banking is becoming a buzz word in the BFSI industry. All banks are interested in developing mobile apps that help their customers to make online transactions, submit service requests, submit complaints, make bill payments, etc. Security testing is of paramount importance for such businesses that involve online transactions.

5) Energy/Utilities – Applications such as billing system, supply chain, and legacy systems are gaining traction. Most of these applications are tied to back-end systems like Salesforce, SugarCRM or databases like SQL or DB2 etc. The integration of such applications on mobile devices requires high-level integration and configuration with the device. Therefore, to ensure the desired functionality, integration, security, and performance tests must be performed.

6) Health: This is a sector that is still in the development phase. Although he does not fully utilize the power of mobility, he has begun to understand its importance so that patients can be better monitored. Applications such as integrated mobile device monitoring solutions (eg, remote cardiac monitoring, automatic pacemaker and defibrillator management) are gaining interest and will help preventative care for patients. Such apps must go through a critical testing and certification process, as incorrect data or symptoms captured by the mobile device can lead to loss of life.

The scope of mobility does not end here with industries such as education and business services aggressively considering this route to increase business. Lack of experience in mobile technology accelerates the need to test all available features within an app and validate them before going into production.