Kobiton Survey: Testing is Primary Bottleneck in the Release of New Mobile Apps, According to Software Developers and Testing Engineers

ATLANTA, April 12, 2018 -- Kobiton, the mobile device cloud company, announces the results of a survey on the challenges, goals and tactics of mobile application developers and testers. A key takeaway from the survey, which ran in March and was completed by 125 developers and test engineers, was that, despite the widespread, global proliferation of mobile devices and mobile apps, testing is the primary bottleneck to the efficient release of new mobile apps in the DevOps process.

This is a Golden Era for mobile application developers. The average American adult spends nearly three hours per day on his or her smartphone, according to a 2017 comScore report, and the mobile app market is expected to grow from $70 billion in 2015 to $189 billion by 2020, per a 2016 report from market researcher App Annie. And yet, creating high-quality mobile apps remains a significant challenge, with mobile app developers having to test their applications on an increasingly wide variety of devices, each with its own unique size, shape, cost, operating system and manufacturer.

To wit, Kobiton’s survey found that mobile app testing was happening everyday in the majority (54%) of organizations, and most test cycles were lasting 1-2 weeks, a seemingly reasonable length of time. But in nearly a quarter of organizations responding to Kobiton’s survey, mobile app testing was taking a month or more to complete, and 79% of respondents said that the cost of testing – at least $100,000 per year in 36% of organizations – was likely to increase over the next year, as more apps were developed.

The reason for the increase in time and cost seems to be a bottleneck in the test phase. Twenty-three percent of survey respondents said testing was the primary obstacle to faster mobile app release cycles, while 15% said the top challenge was getting organizational buy-in for prioritizing testing needs and requirements. Another 12% said the biggest issue was getting started with test automation, and 11% said it was a lack of budget for acquiring and testing on real devices; 54% of respondents considered it “very important” to test mobile apps on real devices, and 30% deemed this “critical.” The good news: only 4% of respondents felt that finding mobile test talent was a top challenge.

“The data validates what we’re hearing from customers,” says Kevin Lee, CEO of Kobiton. “Testing is an increasingly important aspect of mobile app development and ultimately user engagement because users have more options than ever when it comes to mobile apps and thus developers can’t afford to make mistakes. The challenge, therefore, is what can developers and testers do to make the testing process more efficient and cost-effective? We believe the answer has to do with choosing the right test platform.”

Following are other key points from the Kobiton survey:

• 84% of respondents said it is “very important” or “crucial” to test on real devices
• 42% of respondents are testing on iOS as well as Android devices
• The primary motivation for testing mobile apps is increasing app engagement, as well as to catch defects earlier in the development process
• When testing mobile apps, the biggest time sink is performance and load testing
• The top skill necessary for successful mobile app testing is test analysis
• 72% of organizations are planning to increase mobile app tester headcount
• 31% of respondents tested more than 10 mobile apps in the past year

The complete results of Kobiton’s 2018 Mobile App Testing survey can be found here.

About Kobiton
Kobiton is a powerful mobile device cloud that allows companies to more effectively manage the devices they own and access the real devices they want. Simple to use, easy to access from anywhere and flexible enough to scale capacity across internal or external devices, Kobiton minimizes costs while increasing productivity, helping businesses get their apps to market sooner. The mobile device cloud platform offers centralized testing history and insights to improve collaboration across teams; access to the most in-demand mobile devices to supplement existing inventory and significant cost savings; and easy integration with existing automation and DevOps tools. Visit kobiton.com to learn more.

Media contact:
Kevin Wolf
TGPR
(650) 327-1641
[email protected]