I thank my lucky stars every day that I am part of an industry that is able to push the limits and is always evolving. Years ago I started my career with COBOL on MVS370 mainframes, then on to PowerBuilder in the age of Client Server, further into Java with Application Servers and now in the world of Mobile Technologies.

Over the last few months I have been traveling to many countries and have had the occasion to speak to many Corporate Developers. During the course of those travels it became apparent to me that the majority of the attendees at those events, thought that the technical and business 'hurdles' for Enterprise Mobility adoption, were now mostly gone.  Now even more companies are realising that mobile applications will give their Information Workers the benefit of having the data and access where they want it and when they want it. This in turn will make them more productive and proactive, which can only lead to a competitive edge.

It is my belief that next year, 2011, will become 'a new dawn, a new day, a new life' for Corporate Developers and they should be feeling good! 2011 will be the year that many will cross train to mobile development, to embark on and support the ever increasing need to unwire corporate data and systems to mobile devices.  What I am expecting to see is more Corporate Developers adding programming languages such as Objective-C to their list of skills, for iOS application development,  predominately on iPad. Yes... 2011 will also see explosive growth in the Enterprise adoption of tablet devices, lead by the Apple iPad.

So 2011 will be the Year of the Enterprise iOS Developer

If you want to know more of my thoughts on the Skill Set of an Enterprise Mobility Developer, then check out my blog entry here

Though one thing for sure, is that these Mobile Developments in 2011 will not be one off developments, but multiple developments for multiple solutions and will have also to target multiple devices, as mobility moves forward. So another part of the new Mobile Corporate Developer will be the usage and skills related to the Mobile Enterprise Application Platform, that eases and speeds development for those multiple projects and devices. Here is a great diagrammatic representation that shows how a matrix of complexity can grow very easily.

The MEAP approach is great for future proofing developments and getting a awesome ROI.