Understanding the impact of mobile app markets on software practice

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Recent market studies predict that the global mobile app economy is expected to be worth $143 billion by end of 2016. However, unlike traditional software, the distribution mechanism for software applications on mobile devices (or mobile apps) is very different - they are released through app markets (e.g., Google Play, or Apple's App store). Such app markets have changed the way software developers interact with users, the way software is released, and the way users consume the software. There are three types of developers that belong to the app market ecosystem: (a) the developer that builds and releases the apps (eg., Rovio Entertainment that released Angry Birds), (b) the developers that build software libraries that are used across many different apps (eg., the Facebook SDK library), and (c) the developers that build and maintain the app store (eg., Google/BlackBerry). The long-term goal of my research agenda is to examine the impact that this new distribution mechanism has had on the practice of Software Engineering (SE), and to identify challenges and build both knowledge and solutions that can help the different types of developers that are part of the mobile app ecosystem. In the short term, the proposed research program plans to analyze the data that is publicly available in the app markets (app binary, user comments, release notes, app popularity etc.) to make recommendations to the different types of developers so that the end user has a better experience using the app. For example, we want to investigate if app developers are using outdated libraries with known security vulnerabilities. The deliverables from the proposed research program are going to be both empirical results that will shed new light on current software engineering practice, as well as tools that practitioners can use to build better quality apps at a quicker pace. The proposed research program is expected to train 3 HQP (PhD students). Finally, these app markets, which are now standard for mobile apps, are getting popular for desktop apps, video/console games, apps for the Internet of Things, and even open source apps. Thus the lessons we learn from the mature mobile app markets could also be translated to the other upcoming markets thereby enhancing the experience of the various types of developers. Such lessons could give Canadian developers an early advantage to become successful in emerging markets.