Bookmark this page! The BestFit Mobile Glossary is a collection of terms used in mobile marketing & development. We add terms frequently.
Cross-Platform App: is a mobile application built using a cross-platform framework that allows the majority of the business logic code to be used in more than one mobile operating system. For example, an app can be built using Appcelerator’s Titanium system with code written in Javascript that runs much like a native app in both iOS and Android systems in terms of speed and use of all hardware features. While some amount of additional coding, graphic work and adaptation will be necessary to make the app work correctly on each type of mobile phone or device, the majority of the code is re-used. Good cross-platform systems create efficiencies when it comes updated to the app’s basic logic and features.
Geo-Fence: a geo-fence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geo-fence can be dynamically generated—as in a radius around a store or point location. Or a geo-fence can be a predefined set of boundaries, like school attendance zones or neighborhood boundaries. Custom-digitized geofences are also in use. When the location-aware device (such as a mobile phone or tablet) of a location-based service (LBS) user enters or exits a geo-fence, the device receives a generated notification. This notification might contain information about the location of the device. With the user’s permission, the geofence notice might be sent to a mobile telephone or an email account. Geo-fencing can be particularly beneficial to retailers.
Hybrid App: is an application combines features and functionality from both mobile web pages and native or cross-platform apps. Typically it gives the user views of mobile pages encased in a programmed app. The app contains standard elements that users expect and allows the user to take advantage of certain hardware specific features, such as the camera or geo-location.
Mobile advertising: 1) A form of advertising that is communicated to the consumer/target via a handset. This type of advertising is most commonly seen as a Mobile Web Banner (top of page), Mobile Web Poster (bottom of page banner), and full screen interstitial, which appears while a requested mobile web page is “loading.” Other forms of this type of advertising are SMS and MMS ads, mobile gaming ads, and mobile video ads (pre, mid and post roll). [Source: Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Wiki Glossary MMA]; This is an area that poised for extraordinary growth, as mobile devices now far outnumber televisions and desktop computer yet mobile advertising expenditures currently represent only a small fraction of all advertising dollars.
Mobile Site / Mobile Website / WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) site: 1) website created for viewing on a mobile device — phone or tablet — using a mobile browser. Mobile sites are usually a version of an organization’s main website, with streamlined information and navigation; 2) a website that is specifically designed and formatted for display on a mobile device.
Native App: 1) a native mobile application is one that is written to run specifically with the mobile device’s operating system (OS). iPhones, for example, run iOS. Native code for iOS is Objective C. As of this writing, iOS runs on both iPhones and iPads. Android is the Linux-based operating system from Google for Android devices. Native code for Android is usually written in a customized version of Java (not to be confused with JavaScript). Android OS versions are named for desserts, such as Honeycomb or Ice Cream Sandwich. Note that various Android devices — phones and tablets — may require different versions of the Android system; 2) An application designed to run in the computer environment (machine language and OS) being referenced. The term is used to contrast a native application with an interpreted one such as a Java application that is not native to a single platform. The term may also be used to contrast a native application with an emulated application, which was originally written for a different platform. [Source: The Free Dictionary]
What are the benefits of Native apps?
- Native apps that are coded properly will tend to run faster than hybrid apps, mobile sites or even cross-platform apps. Both native and cross-platform apps can take full advantage of all the hardware features of the specific mobile device as compared to mobile sites and hybrid apps.
What is the downside of a Native app?
- Native apps tend to take more time to develop and are therefore more costly to create. Developing for another platform requires 100% rewrite of the code.
Near Field Communications (NFC): is a set of standards for smartphones and similar devices to establish radio communication with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity, usually no more than a few centimeters. This relatively new technology allows purchases from a smartphone to a similar device that is just centimeters away. Google Wallet is an example of this – consumers store credit card information in a virtual wallet and then use their NFC-enabled phone at terminals that accept MasterCard PayPass transactions.
Push Notifications / Push Messaging: 1) Any content sent by or on behalf of advertisers and marketers to a wireless mobile device at a time other than when the subscriber requests it. Push Messaging includes audio, short message service (SMS) messages, e-mail, multimedia messaging, cell broadcast, picture messages, surveys, or any other pushed advertising or content. AKA: Wireless Push Advertising
SMS/text Short Message Service (SMS): 1) a standard for telephony messaging systems that allow sending messages between mobile devices that consist of short messages, normally with text only content. [Source: MMA Glossary]; 2) SMS is also known as “text messaging.” Smartphone users send billions of text messages daily . SMS/ text messaging was one of the first forms of mobile advertising and remains one of the most widely used, especially in Europe and Asia.
SMS / text messaging: requires permission from the recipient is interactive