knowing when to build versus buy a mobile backend
TRANSCRIPT
Knowing When To Build Versus Buy A Mobile
BackendPresented by Murtza Manzur, Developer Evangelist at
InMobi
InMobi: World’s Largest Independent Mobile Ad Network
• 1B unique users across 30k+ apps
• 80 of the top 100 AdAge brands advertise on the InMobi network
• Recognized by MIT Technology Review as one of the 50 Most Disruptive Companies in the world
Agenda• Do you need a mobile backend?• Pros and cons of buying a mobile backend• Pros and cons of building a mobile backend
Mobile Backend Enables More App Features
User Management & Authentication
Notifications File Storage Social Integration
ChatBackground
Jobs On Server
Activity Streams
Usage Analysis
Buy Case Study: Orbitz & Parse• Orbitz uses Parse in its mobile
app, where 1 in 3 of Orbitz’s traveling bookings happen
• Uses Parse Push to notify app users of changes in their trips
• Uses Parse Core to keep users’ recent Orbitz searches available and to remove old data
Pros of Buying a Mobile BackendNo backend
server to maintain
No server-side code to
writeSave time
Scalable No database management SDKs
Cons of Buying a Mobile Backend
Vendor lock-in
On-prem not offered by all
vendorsCompany shutdown
Service failure
Data accessibility
Don’t have full control
MBaaS Offer Tiered Pricing
• Free Tier: 30 requests per second
• $200/month: 50 requests per second
• Next Paid Tier: $300/month
• Free Tier: 1k max active users
• $200/month: 100k max active users
• Next Paid Tier: $1200/month
MBaaS Vendor Analysis• Does the vendor have the features you need in a mobile
backend?
• Is their data model flexible? What object types are supported?
• What is the pricing model?
• Do you need an on-premise solution or a cloud one?
• Will it scale in terms of users and geos?
Build Case Study: WhatsApp• WhatsApp is used by
900M people• Built a custom stack
with Erlang, Yaws, and FreeBSD
• Handle 2.5M concurrent connections per server
Pros of Building a Mobile BackendHost on-prem if needed
Data model flexibility
Use existing APIs
Leverage open-source
Secure own data
Handle scaling and
latency
Cons of Building a Mobile Backend
Maintain client code to
consume APIs
Maintain server-side
codeSlower
implementation
Maintain server
Solve syncing challenges
Secure own data
Many Options for Building Your App Backend
Takeaways• Having a mobile backend enables more app
features• Many options for both building and buying a mobile
backend• Build versus buy should be a calculated decision
based on app and organizational needs
Questions?• Murtza Manzur, Developer Evangelist at InMobi• [email protected]