First, I’d like to start off with a sincere “Thank You” to everyone who has taken the time out of their days to read this blog over the past year. I hope you’ve found it useful and informative. If there are any topics you’d like to see covered in the coming year, please feel free to let me know in the comments.

Secondly, as 2012 draws to a close, I thought I’d try something new. Rather than recap what I thought were the most useful articles, I’d like to share the posts that you found most interesting over the past year.

With that goal in mind, I took a look back at the past year and identified the 10 most popular posts of 2012, as determined by the readers of this blog. These are the posts that attracted the most attention (and often the most debate) over the last 12 months. I hope you find them interesting:

1. Hybrid vs. Native vs. Web app comparison chart
Does your company want mobile apps? You must first answer one question: Do we want native, hybrid, or mobile web apps? What’s the difference, or…more importantly, which is better? This post provides an easy-to-read comparison chart for each mobile development method. It compares the main differences, advantages, and disadvantages of each.

2. 3 ways IT causes Shadow IT (and how to fix it)
Shadow IT has turned into a major problem for many companies over the past year. IT leaders around the world are asking the same question: “How do we stop Shadow IT?” This post explains why that’s the wrong question, and which question they should be asking.

3. How to upload photos from mobile web apps
Many people don’t realize that mobile web apps and native apps offer very similar capabilities. For instance, did you realize that mobile web apps do offer uploading capabilities? This post links to a nice tutorial that explains how to add uploading to your mobile web apps.

4. 5 common IT money wasters
Is your IT department wasting money? Despite their best efforts to the contrary, many IT departments waste money every day. This post covers some of the most common problems that lead to waste.

5. How to create home screen icons for your mobile web apps
When you install a native app on a smartphone, it automatically places an icon on your homescreen for easy access. Did you know that you can do the same thing for mobile web apps? This post links to a tutorial that explains how to create icons for your mobile web apps.

6. 7 things to look for in a web application development tool or IDE
The difference between good development software and bad development software is like night and day. How can you distinguish between the two before you buy? This post outlines some of the most essential elements to look for when choosing a development tool or IDE.

7. Mobile applications: Why architecture matters
While this post was written back in 2011, it remained one of the most popular posts in 2012. It explains how the concept of n-Tier architecture applies to mobile apps, and why it’s so important for business.

8. 6 big business intelligence trends of the near future
Business intelligence is changing. In the past, BI was used mainly by company executives, providing them with monthly/yearly reports on various aspects of the company. That’s all changing now, driven in large part by the trends outlined in this post.

9. The huge trend that no one is talking about
While trends like cloud computing may get all of the press these days, what are companies actually doing about it? Not as much as you might think. This post explains why companies aren’t rushing their business apps into the cloud, and explains a little-discussed trend that might actually be more important to business.

10. 7 reasons why mobile web apps are better than native apps for business
While native apps are popular with consumers, they’re often impractical for businesses. This post outlines 7 reasons why you may want to think twice about building native apps for your business.

There you have it. The 10 most popular posts on this blog in 2012! I hope you found them interesting. Of course, if you think I should’ve added any other posts to this list, I’d love to hear it.

Finally, from all of us here at mrc, we wish safe travels and a very happy holiday season!