Survey: Mobile software lacks quality testing, even as consumers’ expectations remain high

Quality assurance testing is becoming a challenge for website and app developers, a new Keynote Systems survey titled the “State of Mobile Software Quality” revealed. For the survey, more than 1,600 industry professionals were asked about the challenges they face in quality testing for mobile software. Despite consumers having higher expectations for mobile applications than desktop usage — for example, users expect a mobile app to respond within three seconds — resources for quality testing of these applications are very low.
The report shows that functional testing of mobile applications and websites presents the biggest challenge to responders. Forty-seven percent said they were most concerned about this area of testing, a troubling statistic given that consumers expect mobile websites and apps to have the same or even higher performance quality than a desktop. The popularity of mobile apps across all vertical markets is only expanding; per the Keynote Systems presentation, 102 billion apps were downloaded in 2013. But limited resources and time for functional testing is leading industry professionals to struggle with quality assurance issues even as consumer demand rises.
Another key takeaway is that only 16 percent of consumers are willing to continue using a mobile app after they encounter an issue. This means that businesses looking to capitalize on growing revenue opportunities through mobile software must have user-friendly mobile applications that deliver a fast and reliable end-user experience. Investing in more quality-assurance tools for mobile development teams and partnering with a high-performance content delivery network (CDN) will be necessary for industry leaders to reach an increasingly tech-savvy customer base. Leading CDN providers help ensure the fastest and most reliable delivery of mobile app content, transmitting directly to end-user networks and eliminating latency.
CDN technology can help mitigate potential mobile application issues for users. As the Keynote Systems survey demonstrates, consistent quality on all mobile platforms is vital to the consumer experience. Applications are easy to install and uninstall, so whether a certain app will be able to reach a target audience balances precariously on a few seconds’ worth of usage. Moving forward, businesses will need to focus on the implementation of adequate testing processes and utilize the right tools to ensure their customers have the fastest download speeds with scalable delivery of content on-demand.
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