A mobile enterprise application platform (MEAP) is a suite of products and services that enable the development of mobile applications. The term was coined in a Gartner Magic Quadrant report in 2008 when they renamed their "multichannel access gateway mar" e t". Purpose MEAPs address the difficulties of developing mobile software by managing the diversity of devices, networks, and user groups at the time of deployment and throughout the mobile computing technology lifecycle. Unlike standalone apps, a MEAP provides a comprehensive, long-term approach to deploying mobility. Cross-platform considerations are one big driver behind using MEAPs. For example, a company can use a MEAP to develop the mobile application once and deploy it to a variety of mobile devices (including smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and ruggedized handhelds) with no changes to the underlying business logic. Platform applications are best for companies that wish to deploy multiple applications on a single infrastructure, scaled to the size of their current mobile field force and available in online and offline modes. Mobile platforms provide higher-level languages and easy development templates to simplify and speed the mobile application development timeframe, requiring less programming knowledge for mobile business application deployment. Rule of three Gartner observed companies consider the MEAP approach when they need to: Support three or more mobile applications Support three or more mobile operating systems (OS) Integrate with at least three back-end data sources Gartner promoted using a common mobility platform in this situation. Components and features Structure A MEAP is generally composed of two parts: a mobile middleware server and a mobile client application. A middleware server handles all system integration, security, communications, scalability, cross-platform support, etc. No data is stored in the middleware server—it just manages data from the back-end system to the mobile device and back. Mobile applications are software that connects to the middleware server and drives both the user interface and the business logic on the device. These applications are often able to transfer seamlessly across the Mobile operating system, as a platform to launch applications upon. Mobile apps can be deployed as ”thick" applications—or native apps that are installed on the device—or rendered in the device's browser using technologies such as HTML5 (something that's typically called the "thin" approach). Whether a "thick" or ”thin" application is deployed depends on application complexity, device support, requirements for user experience, and the need for app availability in the absence of network coverage.