New Micro Focus Borland Mobile Testing Solution Delivers Improved Quality To Mobile Applications

Micro Focus, provider of enterprise application modernisation, testing and management solutions, today launched Silk Mobile — a comprehensive mobile application testing solution that helps companies to create more advanced and reliable mobile business applications.

Silk Mobile is the most complete mobile application testing solution on the market. The tool is designed to provide an elegant, easy-to-use, comprehensive approach to the functional testing of applications on mobile devices across multiple OS platforms including Android, iOS, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Symbian, and HTML5. The tool is designed to work with mobile applications the way an end user would interact with his or her mobile devices with gesture support including multi-touch, swipe, drag & drop, zoom, and scrolling. This allows Silk Mobile to capture pertinent information and data by factoring in the multiple ways end users interact with different devices. To add to the application's versatility, Silk Mobileâ„¢ test scripts can be exported to a number of scripting languages such as Java, C#, , Python or Perl.

State of Mobile Apps market in India

With lower set-up costs and a huge pool of IT talent, many Western companies are eyeing up India for app production, effectively outsourcing this process. But the domestic app market is also booming. The value of the Indian value added services (VAS) industry, which includes mobile apps, was estimated at $3.4bn (£2.2bn) in 2011, according to Deloitte. The rate at which this market is growing can be ascertained form the fact that on an average 100 million apps are being downloaded in India every month.

Considering the quality and complexity of apps that are being developed for mobiles, it would not be wrong to say that testing the mobile apps is precisely a function to pledge the quality of mobile phones. Given the dynamism and level of innovation in the field of mobile technology, the importance of testing has already begun to unfold. The diversity in mobile computing environments presents unique challenges in developing apps. quality assurance, and deployment, which calls for requiring higher and more intricate testing regime. As the handheld devices become ubiquitous, business are under constant pressure to deliver a smooth and immersive consumer experience making the need for app. testing even more compelling. Businesses are starting to appreciate testing as a basic business function which qualifies the launch and therefore defines the success of the applications.

David Taylor, President of Micro Focus, Asia Pacific and Japan, said. “The demand for smartphones is voracious. This trend is powering the demand for innovative applications with much higher degrees of sophistication. There is an ever increasing pressure on the testers to keep pace with the explosive growth of mobile apps. With most of these applications being used for commercial purposes, bbusinesses are striving to deliver a smooth and flawless customer experience on the mobile devices.” He further added, “I believe that Silk Mobile Testing application will accelerate the development of more advanced and higher quality mobile applications and prove to be a linchpin in powering this revolution.”

“The extent to which Smartphone usage is gaining traction in India is tremendous. Due to this growing number of mobile devises and newer device adoption, mobile applications are rapidly gaining popularity. Predictions suggest that the India-specific mobile application market could be worth close to $4bn in the next few years. In this scenario, it is crucial that the mobile applications should be tested rigorously to ensure a smooth experience for the customers. Silk Mobileâ„¢ is a transformational tool that makes cross platform testing a cakewalk. It helps them deliver their customers, mobile applications which are faster and of high quality”, explains Nitin Dang, Country General Manager, Micro Focus, India and SAARC. Further to this he added that “With its ease of use and broad support for multiple devices, Silk Mobileâ„¢ is filling a gap that exists today in the mobile apps testing market. Organizations are under continued pressure to release mobile apps faster and more often than ever before. Silk Mobile will help them deliver and will be the one-stop mobile testing solution for companies producing high quality mobile applications for their customers.”

As with any emerging technology, developing and implementing mobile applications poses a number of unique challenges. Mobile applications must be thoroughly tested prior to release, or the cost of failure can be high. If a customer doesn't have an excellent experience with an application — as a result of a bug, for example — they may well switch to a rival product or simply won't use the application.