mobile

Paul Kedrosky on the under-appreciation of mobile web platforms:

People just don't get how good web apps on mobile can be. I get stuck in many conversations about native apps on mobile, which always strikes me as vestigial. The same way that I live in mostly browser-based apps on my desktop and laptop, I am convinced I will live in web apps on my mobile device. Pretending otherwise seems wrong-headed and self-defeating.

At MobileCamp Vancouver I pushed just this point on the industry panel. I'm not sure the other telco folks on the panel were convinced. But - what I found after the panel among the broader development community there, was intense interest in targeting mobiles through web-based runtimes - be they web sites, widgets, Adobe AIR, Google gears, etc.

There are really two issues to consider here.

1. Are web runtimes capable of delivering the necessary functionality and experience equal to native runtimes? The answer is yes although not everybody gets this yet. See my post on Adobe AIR / Google gears like platform for iPhone for an argument in favor of mobile runtimes over native runtimes.

2. Recognition of another under-appreciated benefit of mobile web runtimes - they drastically expand the world of people that can develop mobile applications. In this sense web runtimes are poised to play a role similar to that played by Visual Basic for desktop apps in the 90's. To be clear - I am not comparing the two in technical terms, but in terms of "developer reach". Undeniably (and to many developers' deep regret) VB drove a huge developer population.

It's been quite a year in the world of mobile apps and we've had a ton of fun building out the EQO service at the front of the pack this year. There is a huge amount of pride among the team here at what we've accomplished both inside the company and among our community of EQO users.

For all the users who have joined the EQO network and given feedback to the team and on the to improve the service - Thank You!

To all the EQO users and fans out there, please take a moment to nominate us for one or more of the following awards ("The Crunchies") run by techcrunch.com.

Thanks!

Adobe's AIR platform has shown that the web development model is fundamentally capable of delivering applications every bit as rich as native platform apps. Hence the outcry over the idea of web applications as the primary development model for the iPhone is overblown. Yes, the current iPhone development environment sucks but it's important to keep in mind that we haven't seen the true power of this model.

So what will Apple do if they are serious about the web development platform?

First up, a JavaScript bridge into native device capabilities on the iPhone. Right now in terms of access to device functions via web technologies, the iPhone offers nothing beyond the microbrowsers on feature phones. Yes, the AJAX support enables a quantum leap in usability, but we need more.

Top of the list - "the basics"

• file access
• camera access
• location
• address book
• calendar

But beyond these now familiar mobile device capabilities, there is an opportunity for Apple to provide powerful APIs that would provide an unparalleled mobile development environment, web or otherwise:

• SQLite local store
• Access to iTunes account-based charging
• Event subscriptions with persistent ECMAScript object handlers
• timers
• calendar events
• location
• support for installable URI handlers

Key to app usability is that these capabilities should be provided through a user consent system which does not take away the user's choice to make use of device features with a given application, a la the restrictions in many J2ME runtimes:

On first load, present the list of "privacy affecting" services being requested by the application - and listen to what the user wants! Empower the user already - they bought the damn thing.

When can we expect such features? Who knows, but I would be very surprised if the first GPS-enabled iPhones, expected in Q1 2008, ship without at minimum a JavaScript bridge to location data following soon after.

Gut check: For anyone with development experience on J2ME, can you imagine going back to the underachiever that is the J2ME RMS storage API after being provided with a local SQL store?

The native app vs. web app argument is stale!

Jeff
Chief Software Architect, EQO

The mobile operators have made a huge mistake on the identity front. The one long-term point of value they have aside from being a bit pipe is the possession of validated identities tied to a mobile billing platform. But with their continuing efforts to maintain their walled gardens, they have passed on the opportunity to become the identity and billing providers of choice on the mobile.

Now there is another mobile player with this capability. Apple. Not only does the new iTunes wifi store not deliver music over the operator network, the billing is not enabled by the operator.

Oops.

An enlightened move by Apple would be to break the lock the operators have on billable mobile identities permanently wide open by giving every iTunes account an associated OpenID, and publishing an open payment API around OpenID identifiers. This would cause a few things to happen:

- a 100% uptake of OpenID within days by makers of iPhone apps
- a practical, simple billing mechanism for OpenID apps of all types
- overnight Apple could become the largest payment provider in the mobile space. Not just on the iPhone, but on any reasonably web capable phone owned by an iTunes user. Not just in the mobile space. Anyone with an iTunes account would be a payment-capable.

Will it happen?

Jeff
Chief Software Architect, EQO

A class-action suit against the long-running practice of Canadian mobile operators to charge unadvertised additional fees has just been certified by a judge in Saskatchewan.

Any Canadians that would like to join the class action can do so here. (Roland, that means you!)

Here is Michael Geist (Canada's answer to Lawrence Lessig) on System Access Fees:

"Emboldened by limited competition, [Canadian] providers have not hesitated to pad their prices by adding the deceptive "system access fee." Contrary to popular belief, the fee, which adds nearly $100 per year to every wireless phone bill (MTS Mobility in Manitoba just increased its system access fee to $107.40 per year), is not a government-mandated charge but rather a slick method of camouflaging higher prices."

Jeff

"To see what is right in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle."
- George Orwell

Sometimes it's helpful to point out the obvious, to take stock of where we are.

The wired Internet is the real Internet. Geographic boundaries for nearly all purposes are irrelevant.

The wireless Internet is the Internet stillborn. Geographic boundaries are very real and impact everything you do. It is a 1960s long distance plan, only for data.

• Want to use the Internet on the mobile device you carry daily while traveling? Better watch out, outrageous bills ahead.
• Want to connect while traveling, via another provider with a prepaid SIM? Hope you understand APN settings. Hope you don't run into an especially restrictive carrier proxy that doesn't like your favorite application.
• Want to develop an application for phones that anyone can use, anywhere? Hope you've got the resources (like EQO does) to work around a multitude of deficiencies and roadblocks of the access networks, both incidental and intentional.

Like other wireless users, I want to use cutting-edge, revolutionary apps and services on my phone. There are a few out there... but there could be so many more.

The Internet is not a thing - it is an agreement. 3G will not bring the internet to your phone. Only a new system of agreements will.

The wireless Internet is broken - it is the internet 15 years behind the real Internet. In fact in the absence of the agreements that make the Internet work, it is not the Internet at all.

Jeff

Working for a mobile services company has made me quite dependent on my mobile phone, a Nokia E61i.  I find myself now quite in tune with the mobile industry and wish to share with you my favorite mobile applications.  These applications make my life easier and I'm grateful to have them with me all the time.  To remain impartial, I've removed EQO Mobile from the running, even though I depend on it for all my instant messaging needs.  Here you are, the top five killer mobile apps according to me:

1. Google Maps - I would be lost without this one, literally.
2. Gmail - I use Gmail as my personal email so I find the mobile app very handy, wish there were file attachments though.
3. Widsets - Lets you use the web services you love on your mobile via thousands of custom widgets.  I currently make use of Wikipedia, TechCrunch, eBay, Sudoku, and Twitter.
4. Screenshot - A Symbian gem; the best way to show someone something is to take a picture.
5. Shozu - Lets me share the pictures I take with Screenshot, although good for much more.

Honorable Mentions:

• Opera Mini - The best mobile browser out there, although I find the Nokia browser good enough for me so I don't use this one as much.
• S-Tris 2 - A Symbian version of the classic Tetris, very fast with great graphics.
• Jaiku - A presence sharing, social networking type deal with a great Symbian client.

Got any favorites I missed?  I'd love to hear about them.

Chris
EQO Customer Evangelist

Jobs is known for being cheeky - but check this out, then imagine the cursing going on in the boardrooms of Apple's operator partners after today's launch of the iPod Touch:

• Jobs: “Wi-Fi, as you know, is not only faster than 2.5G, but it’s faster than any 3G network”.
• Song playing on the iPod Touch: "Cellphone's Dead - Beck"
• On the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store: "We're gonna do something else, too: we're gonna bring it to the iPhone"

What Apple has done is make the carrier networks look old and stale. They are saying, remember the iPhone? Of all the things you loved about it, none of them were enabled by your operator. Just the contract. Here's one without the contract.

And reading between the lines: Oh, but you want voice? Stay tuned.

Cellphone's dead indeed.

Blast from the recent past: "When asked about a give-and-take leading to the Apple-Cingular partnership, [Cingular CEO] Lurie said, "I'm not sure we gave anything." Later, he commented, "I think they bent a lot."

Jeff

Rumors and innuendo - it all was all so much fun the first time with the iPhone, who isn't looking forward to doing it all over again with the gPhone?

Rediff reports that

"Google, the nearly $13.5 billion search engine major, is believed to be a fortnight away from the worldwide launch of its much-awaited Google Phone [...] Sources close to the development said a simultaneous launch across the US and Europe is expected, and announcements would be sent to media firms in India and other parts of the world. US regulatory approval, which is expected soon, is the only hurdle that Google is waiting to cross."

Two weeks to complete FCC certification and do a multi-operator worldwide launch would be a daunting task. Could Google out-secret Apple in a worldwide launch more complex than the single operator launch of the iPhone?

The is only one likely scenario in which a launch in 2 weeks makes sense - if the "gPhone" will launch as a device taken through FCC certification by some other manufacturer, with Google providing the software on the handset.

Anybody out there up for trolling through FCC filing database for enigmas in the past two or three months?

Jeff

Mobhappy has the 86th Carnival of the Mobilists up. They plug Wap Review's look at NewsGator's mobile version finding it tempting but sunk by showstoppers.

I would highly recommend that Dennis try Viigo Personal. Having used it on the Blackberry Pearl for some time now I consider it the best mobile newsreader I've come across. On the desktop I'm a Newsfire user. Viigo is as usable on the mobile as Newfire is on the desktop, and that is saying a lot. 

Jeff