Standards Research

Mobile Computing and Social Networks

December 11, 2014

Abstract

This paper will assess the efficiency that mobile-based applications provide customers when capturing geolocation data with a review of several case studies for two insurance companies, State Farm insurance and Mitek insurance company; and one airline, Lufthansa airlines (Deutsche Lutfhansa AG). To be reviewed will be the specific benefits provided by mobile applications (which will be referred to as apps), i.e. the ease of access to customers’ data. Furthermore, this paper discusses the real and perceived challenges of developing applications that run on mobile devices because of the small screen size as well as potential Adobe® supported software solutions and “responsive design” methods for solving these challenges. Specific methods for how IT departments and mobile app developers/designers can decide on supporting different mobile platforms like the Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Windows Phone, or Android supported smartphones and tablets will be discussed. Other topics addressed in this paper include the issue of “high availability” for mobile app users and how this technical issue of “high availability” can be solved by potentially utilizing Amazon’s AWS and EC2 services. Lastly, this paper will address the high rate of hacking for mobile devices as well as ways to make mobile devices more secure.

In regards to the issue of how effective and efficient mobile-based applications are at capturing customer data and tools that utilize geolocation technology, we must first review the current state of smartphone app usage and specific processes made in correlation with mobile devices. According to Chordas (2012), it is predicted that by the year 2020, there will be more than three billion mobile devices making 450 billion mobile...