Computerworld — Johnson & Johnson, the consumer packaged-goods giant, recently hired Jeff Mathers as director of mobility. He's charged with accelerating the development and deployment of mobile apps for all lines of business at the company.

With a job like that, it's clear he's not going to be building just one or two apps. Instead, he'll be jumping into a new trend among leading-edge companies: Building scores of mobile apps, many designed to be used for short periods -- days or months -- rather than indefinitely.

When mobile app development often takes a minimum of six months, how can companies afford to build apps that are to be used for so little time? Some, like Johnson & Johnson (J&J), are experimenting with offerings known as back-end as a service (BaaS), designed to take care of the humdrum capabilities required for most apps so that internal developers can focus instead on the user interface and experience.