Mobile application development is a term used to denote the act or process by which
application software is
developed for
handheld devices, such as
personal digital assistants,
enterprise digital assistants or
mobile phones. These applications can be
pre-installed on phones during manufacturing platforms, or delivered as web applications using server-side or client-side processing (e.g. JavaScript) to provide an "application-like" experience within a
Web browser. Application software developers also have to consider a lengthy array of screen sizes, hardware specifications and configurations because of intense competition in mobile software and changes within each of the platforms. Mobile app development has been steadily growing, both in terms of revenues and jobs created. A 2013 analyst report estimates there are 529,000 direct App Economy jobs within the EU 28 members, 60% of which are mobile app developers.