Agencies Face Challenges Developing for Multiple Mobile Operating Systems

As soon as the Environmental Protection Agency decided it would begin developing public-facing mobile applications, Dalroy Ward, senior technology advisor at EPA's office of information analysis and access, made a visit to the agency's ethics officer.

"They very simply said, 'You can't do something just for one device, one network,'" said Ward, while speaking June 23 at an AFCEA Bethesda event. "That could be perceived as an endorsement that's going to go out to the public."

At the same time, said Ward, agencies can't afford to build and support mobile operating systems that only claim 1 percent of the market. Ward watches market penetration data for the various mobile operating systems very closely, as it dictates what the agency will develop for and support.

"At the very minimum we have been doing iOS, Android and a mobile web, so that any relatively smart phone--that's not a smartphone but that can just handle a web browser--can do our mobile applications," said Ward.