Chapter opener image: © JBOY/Shutterstock

CHAPTER 14
Mobile Cloud Computing

If you ask a roomful of cloud-computing experts whether the cloud is driving the growth of mobile computing or mobile computing is driving the growth the cloud, your results will be mixed. In any case, within a few years, mobile computing will be a trillion dollar a year business. This chapter examines various aspects of mobile cloud computing and the underlying use of the cloud. As you will learn, to perform meaningful work, a mobile app must have an Internet connection. The apps use those connections to communicate with cloud-based servers using an API, which is server-based code that performs a specific function, such as authenticating the user, returning a list of nearby restaurants, or storing and retrieving data to or from a database.