Scalability and automatic RESTful API generation are two of the most important features mobile app developers can expect from mobile Backend-as-a-Service, an emerging, cloud-based set of services that provide developers with customizable back ends for mobile app platforms so that developers can focus their time and energy on the app itself.
What can developers expect from mobile BaaS? According to both vendors and analysts, the platforms can offer database creation, event tracking, geolocation, hosting, identity, messaging, notifications, security and social media integration.
Forrester Research analyst Michael Facemire recommended that mobile app developers seriously consider mobile BaaS services in his blog post, “Mobile Backend-as-a-Service: The New Lightweight Middleware?” App developers can benefit from mobile BaaS solutions, he wrote, because the platforms also include “a cloud-based storage facility for your data, automatic RESTful API generation providing read/write access to that data, over-the-wire-optimized ways to access this data (generally JSON today), user management facilities for authenticating access to your data, and a set of analytics that allow you to determine how your users are using your mobile app.”
Mobile apps have different needs than typical app development.
