[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flIuntwYqDo&w=560&h=349]

Just because your mobile app works doesn't necessarily mean it's working well or efficiently on the network or for the user. At the GigaOM Mobilize 2011 conference in San Francisco, I chatted with Stephen Bye, CTO/VP Technology Development and Strategy for Sprint. He offered up some different ways developers can improve their app’s efficiency. Ask yourself:

• How many persistent connections does your app have? Are they all necessary? And do they always have to be on?
• How often are you requesting a connection? Is it necessary to do it that often for the app to work properly?
• How often do you send out updates for your application? If frequently, is it necessary to iterate that often?
• Where do you send your updates and at what time? Can you send your updates when the user connects via WiFi? What about scheduling at low peak times of the day?

Bye says Sprint simply just makes developers aware of any issues their app may be causing on the network and will work with them to improve performance on the network as well as their product. For example, Sprint saw one app had a battery drain issue because of persistent connection requests. By removing unnecessary connections, which didn't hurt the apps performance, it improved the experience for both the user and Sprint's network.