By Sue Kelly

The research firm Forrester is forecasting the mobile app explosion will shift end user focus away from the Web. This will in time create new opportunities for the programmers and developers of Apps as well as the enterprises that sell and service them. This "app internet" is still a nascent industry with plenty of room to grow and if you are an IT pro thinking of re-tooling your skill set then this could be the right choice for you. We have not seen this much demand for a specific talent in quite some time.

The proliferation of smartphones, tablets, and  app ecosystems such as the ones around the iPhone/iPad and Android devices are setting the stage to change the way the internet users conduct their business. This shift will arrive through a new wave of innovation that links cloud-based services, smart computing, and app-enabled devices, including cars, appliances, and entertainment systems, according to new research from Forrester.

A new report, "Mobile App Internet Recasts the Software and Services Landscape," from Forrester's John McCarthy says that the App Store/Android Market revolution is just the start of this change. The second wave of innovation that will direct end user activity away from the Web and toward apps as the mobile market and the emerging platforms they operate within continue to grow. This shift will continue to accelerate as mobile devices become more sophisticated and increasingly the preferred IT gadgets of  choice. This transformation will present a major opportunity for both Apps developers, programmer, designers, UI engineers,  and enterprises to create the apps, as well as set up and manage the devices they're on.

This is a positive and welcome trend for computer scientists, engineers, and programmers, as the demand for their skills have been waning for the last decade due to outsourcing.  This trend is confirmed by money.com in an article which states, "The startups are competing for talent not just with each other, but also against established companies with much deeper pockets. A study by consulting firm BDO found that 46% of top U.S. technology companies plan to increase their employee headcount in 2011."

New demand for IT talent always brings more opportunity. "Good talent is always employed," says Shannon Callahan, who recruits for companies backed by venture capital firm Andreessen-Horowitz.

That can lead to some sticky situations. "As CEO, one generally doesn't have many true friends in business and raiding your friend's company is a sure way to lose one," Andreessen-Horowitz partner Ben Horowitz wrote last month in a blog on the ethics of poaching.

In a blog post on the mobile app internet forrester analyst McCarthy predicts that the combined spend on apps and services will be $54.6 billion a year by 2015, with $17 billion going to app support services. Also, he foresees the app Internet disrupting "basically everything you thought you knew about building, delivering, and managing applications. It will also dramatically impact how traditional software is sold and delivered." Enterprises and support firms have a chance now to position themselves to grab a big slice of this lucrative pie -- enterprises via ambitious IT plans that capitalize on this adaptation and support firms by, well, supporting those plans via device management, security, and the like.

As for apps developers, Jeffrey Hammond says that "we're witnessing the rebirth of the rich client in real time, on the mobile device instead of the laptop or desktop." Hammond sees some potential hitches in the app Internet - namely in the  challenges associated with making app development cost-effective.  This app-web conflicting dynamic could help the Web-based content delivery and end user engagement approach on track due to its' momentum. He recommends that developers "keep their options open and understand the costs involved with going native, using mobile middleware, or investing in a Web-based approach." He notes that "in the end, you're probably going to use a combination of one or more approaches."

Published by myITview.com

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