Android is a fast growing platform with a lot of users and applications on the market. In order to challenge the competition, a new software product should be designed carefully, conforming to the platform constraints and conveying to the user expectations. This research focuses on defining a suitable architecture design for the specific use case of interest, an Android application focused on location based data. The research process is backed up by a prototype application construction with features such as location based reminders and mobile communication with web services. Moreover, an analysis has been conducted on existing products with the proven quality, to extract information on current best practice implementations of several interesting features. Furthermore, the demand for targeting multiple platforms with the same application motivated a research on portability and reuse of code among different platforms. The constructed system is divided into a client-server pair. Opposite to the client (mobile) side, the server side analyzes the process of extending an existing architecture by integrating it with a web service project used for exchanging data with the mobile devices. Finally, the thesis is not strictly constrained to the given use case because it presents several general concepts of application design through architectural and design patterns.

While the shape and nature of platforms varies across different instances, they pursue common ambitions such as reduction of risk, complexity, or transaction costs. Although initially theorised in industrial contexts, subsequent theorising regarding platform development, platform ecosystems, and platform strategy has drawn upon studies of high-tech industries in general and IT-based platforms in particular. While the inherent malleability of digitised data and digital technology offers possibilities, they also make it difficult to pin down the locus of a low-variety platform core. As such, one of the fundamental properties of digital platforms is rather mundane: to provide stability. With that in mind, this thesis pursues the following research question: How can a digital platform maintain stability for its stakeholders in the face of constant technical change? This thesis utilises affordance theory as a means to operationalise a relational view of digital platform, where stability is assessed in relation to stakeholders rather than technical persistence. This dissertation is based on an interpretive case study, primarily using qualitative data in the form of interviews gathered as part of two separate projects that varied both in scope and orientation. The thesis offers two main contributions. First, the idea of platform stability as derived from low-variety components that are persistent over time is difficult to apply in relation to digital platforms. Rather, we need to approach stability as a composite property, based on the ability of the platform to satisfy technical-, informational-, and social expectations. Hence, stability should not be considered as a fixed or absolute property, but rather a moving target. Second, this thesis suggests that the existing notion of (technical) coring needs to be complemented with information coring and social coring when applied to digital platforms. The proposed concept of information coring expresses the ability to hide complexity and present bottom-line results to the user in a comprehensible manner. Social coring refers to the idea of aligning technical integration and social integration in a platform. A relational perspective applied to digital platforms offers a possible avenue for theorising digital platforms as information systems artefacts rather than the dichotomous relationship between platform-as-architecture and platform-as-marketplace found in extant literature.

The mobile application market is becoming increasingly fragmented with the availability of multiple mobile platforms that differ in development procedures. Developers are forced to choose to support only some platforms and specific devices due to limited development resources. To address these challenges, numerous tools have been created to aid developers in building cross-platform applications, however, there is no metric to evaluate the quality of these tools. This thesis introduces a framework for evaluating the features, performance and discuss development experience of existing and future cross-platform development tools. The framework is implemented by benchmarking several tools and the results identify a disparity in the features and performance. This research is carried out in collaboration with industrial partner Desire2Learn, through an NSERC Engage Grant. / NSERC, Desire2Learn

In mobile computing, there is variety of approaches to develop applications. One challenge is the diversity of mobile devices in the market and targeting more than one mobile device to develop applications. One approach to handle this is traditional, in which for every device there is a project carried out to develop application. Another method is the cross-platform application development which has been introduced in recent years. The purpose of this thesis is to explore if existing cross-platform frameworks can aid startup companies to develop cross-platform mobile apps. The research questions are 1) How can cross-platform frameworks be a viable approach for start-up companies in this respect? 2) What challenges and benefits do cross-platform approaches bring to developers? In order to answer the research questions, respondents from five small-sized and two large companies developing mobile apps are being interviewed. The results shows that cross-platform frameworks are good tools when developing mobile apps for multiple platforms, but are applicable to different degrees depending on the actual case. Challenges and benefits identified by the respondents mainly touched upon decreasing development time, and less coding effort, but also the uniqueness of Apple and Android products and difficulties in making developers switch to new languages.

When developing mobile applications, the tradition has been to write code specific (native) for each platform they are running on. Usually it’s about writing two separate applications for the biggest platforms, Android and iOS. There exist alternatives to this approach that uses the same code for different platforms. React Native is a relatively new cross-platform development framework that makes it possible to use the same code for application to Android and iOS. It also uses native UI-elements as a possible solution for performance issues that is often associated with cross-plattform development. This thesis evaluates React Native and compares it against native Android. The implementation is done by replicating the main functionality from a social media application written as a native Android application. However, the application is not made as an exact replica since that could limit the solutions in React Native. The evaluation is done in a Startup company and therefore focuses on aspects important in a Startup. Another issue when developing a mobile application is what type of backend that shall be used. Performance, scalability and complexity are all important aspects when choosing a framework or language as a base for the backend architecture.There do exist theoretical frameworks that could be used when building the backend. However, these frameworks require resources that are often missing in a Startup. AWS Lambda is a platform that claims to be a cost-effective way of building a scalable application. In this thesis AWS Lambda is evaluated to see if it can be used to create an automatically scaled backend for this type of social media application. The conclusion of the React Native evaluation is that it can be a suitable alternative to native Android development. If the team has previous experience in web development but lack experience in mobile application development it can be a wise choice since it removes the need to learn two frameworks in native Android and native iOS development. React Native is also good to fast create functional prototypes which can be shown to potential investors. The biggest drawback is performance in animations. However, there are often ways to work around that. In our case this drawback did not affect the user experience of the end application. The evaluation of AWS Lambda concludes that it is not for every project. In this thesis, the application was a bit too database heavy and therefore the autoscaling ability did not work properly. However, for a service that needs a lot of computing power, AWS Lambda could be a good fit. It could also be a suitable alternative if someone in the team has previous experience in the AWS environment.

For several decades, market fragmentation caused by different operating systems has been complicating and overpricing the process of creating new applications. Unified development for multiple platforms does not only save time and expenses, but also enables to reach a far wider audience. This work presents the topic of a cross-platform mobile development and analyzes the development of the market for currently the two most prevalent operating systems – Android and iOS. The results of the analysis are used to design and create a multiplatform tool intended to monitor immunopathologic reactions. The work also includes a marketing plan and expected economic valuation once the developed application is introduced to the market.

This master's thesis deals with design of cross-platform application for risk analysis support. It describes risk management in information technology and methods which can be~used for risk management with emphasis on those that can be visualized. Possibilities for cross-platform development are described subsequently. Next, application for risk analysis support is designed and implemented. In the end of this thesis is shown how to use implemented application for risk analysis.

Denna rapport jämför prestandan hos applikationer utvecklade med två olika verktyg som används för att utveckla mobilapplikationer till flera plattformar samtidigt. Verktygen som jämförs är React Native och Apache Cordova. Verktygen fungerar på olika sätt, React Native renderar applikationen genom att använda plattformsspecifika- komponenter medans Cordova renderar med hjälp av HTML5 och CSS3. Jämförelsen går till genom att utveckla tre applikationer med de båda verktygen (totalt sex applikationer) och sedan jämföra prestandan hos dessa. Testapplikationerna är framtagna för att testa funktionalitet som förekommer ofta hos applikationer idag. Testapplikation 3 testar exempelvis ett oändligt scrollande flöde, som förekommer hos både Facebook och Instagram. Resultaten visar att Cordova i dessa tester har en CPU-användning på 76% lägre än React Native och även har en minnesanvändning som är 18% lägre.

Home surveillance/monitoring systems are widely used nowadays. An intelligent surveillance system can provide multiple functions for uses. The assumption underlying this thesis project is that a home surveillance system can help people manage their homes better. The thesis presents two investigations into an intelligent home surveillance system implementation. First we will focus on the development of a router platform, which can manage the cameras connected to an intelligent home surveillance system. Such a system will include at least one router, one or more cameras. Some of these cameras will be connected by wireless links. Each camera will be dynamically allocated an IP address. The system will manage and control the various elements of the home surveillance/monitoring system via the network. Second, we will examine potential network security solutions, and choose a suitable solution. A key result of this thesis project is that SRTP and MIKEY are suitable for use in a home surveillance/monitoring system and together they provide authentication and privacy for the information from the camera (and potentially other information). This privacy is an important aspect of a home surveillance/monitoring system, since improper use of this information could be damaging to the homeowner’s privacy and personal integrity.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(経済学) / 甲第23665号 / 経博第648号 / 新制||経||300(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院経済学研究科経済学専攻 / (主査)教授 COLPAN Meziyet Asli, 教授 関口 倫紀, 教授 山田 仁一郎 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Economics / Kyoto University / DGAM