Apps The 'internet' part of mobile applications

[GreenAce92]

I'd like to start getting into android development. I am not a complete novice, I have taken a course in Java, C++, worked with C, C#, and XML. I initially was going to develop for windows phone but now I am targeting a broader audience. Anyway, the last four months I have worked on websites, establishing databases, applying password hashing, SSL certificates, etc... so I'm wondering, when you bridge a local application (Mobile) to the internet eg. web socket / wamp router and the data such as pictures and whatever, is it the same? You just access the server directly similar to an SSH client or something? What about security? Does SSL apply to mobile applications if the application is ran "locally" eg. not in the browser but it does pull and send data back and forward between the device(s) and server.

Thanks for any information.