How can developers and service providers track mobile app performance and end-user experience? Perhaps New Relic for Mobile Apps can help. The SaaS-based application performance management tool provides real user and server monitoring services for Android and Apple iOS mobile applications. MSPmentor spoke briefly with New Relic President and COO Chris Cook and Senior VP of Products Jim Gochee on the company's latest solution.

According to the duo, it's not enough to test apps in a closed environment. Apps need to be tested by users across various devices, carriers, and operating systems. “How can we monitor these apps in the wild?” said Gochee, raising a common question among developers. “We're bringing New Relic for Mobile Apps to the operations team.”

New Relic for Mobile Apps provides developers with the ability to analyze and track app performance, compare carriers, report errors, track user location, and record device type. The solution is available for both Apple iOS and Android applications and supports:

New Relic for Mobile Apps is integrated with the the company's web app service. New Relic has agent software that's embedded into the developer's app. The company can hook into network traffic and log and record every call that is made. The company stores data for about 3 months.

Cook said that with the company's solution, developers don't need to wait for one-star app ratings to realize something's wrong. “Vendors don't want months to go by, while users are saying that your app is doing horrible,” he said. “We want to provide mobile app developers with [rapid] insight.”

New Relic for Mobile Apps is has three pricing different levels: Free for the basics; standard at $24 per month per server; and pro at $149 per month per server. Visit the company's website for partner information. The company collects nearly 94 billion metrics a day.