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Michael Shpigel

Posts written by Michael Shpigel

September 8

Development for Mobile Devices Part Three

Building an application to reside and execute on a mobile device brings a whole other set of considerations and issues versus thin client development. Unlike browser based mobile applications, resident applications are going to be more dependent on their device platform.

When talking about development of downloadable applications it is important to distinguish whether the app is going to be written to a device platform or application platform. I will use term ‘device platform’ to mean mobile device hardware with its operating system or its integrated software.

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posted to: Mobile, Technology | 1 Comment »

August 22

Development for Mobile Devices Part Deux

by Michael Shpigel

IDC has reported that it believes 1.3 billion (that’s about 1/5 of the world’s population) will be connected to the internet via mobile phone by the end of this year. With that much thin-client capability and connectivity, it’s hard to ignore the mobile browser as a very viable means of putting mobile applications in the hands of the consumer.

Developing for mobile browser however is a tricky business since the choice of browsers running on mobile devices is much greater than in the desktop world. The good news is that thin client development allows many organizations to reuse most, if not all, of the backend of their applications. Getting the apps to the device is also a lot easier. It’s the user interface portion of the application that needs to be addressed to support the mobile browser thin client.

Most of the mobile devices come with the built in browser however more and more devices allow you to download third party browser.

Here is the list of built-in default browsers:

Android (mobile phone platform) by Google (based on WebKit)
BlackBerry Browser by Research in Motion (proprietary)
Blazer by Palm, installed on all newer Palm Treos and PDAs (based on NetFront).
Danger browser by Danger (proprietary), installed on all Danger-designed devices including the T-Mobile Sidekick.
Embider by Infraware[4] (proprietary).
Internet Explorer Mobile by Microsoft
jB5 Mobile Browser by Jataayu Software, available on Symbian Series 60, Windows Mobile and Linux Platforms
MOTOMAGX by Motorola (based on WebKit).
NetFront by ACCESS Co., Ltd. (proprietary).
Nokia Series 40 Browser by Nokia (proprietary).
Novarra nWeb (proprietary).
Obigo Browser by Obigo AB (Sweden), 100% owned by Teleca AB (proprietary).
Openwave Mobile Browser by Purple Labs (newly aquired from Openwave) (proprietary).
Opera Mobile by Opera Software ASA (Norway). - Capable of reading HTML and reformat for small screens (proprietary).
Picsel Browser by Picsel Techologies (Scotland) (proprietary).
PlayStation Portable web browser by Sony (based on NetFront).
Safari by Apple Inc on iPhone and iPod Touch (based on WebKit).
Iris Browser by Torch Mobile for Pocket PCs (based on WebKit).
Wapaka Browser Java micro-browser by Digital Airways.
Web Browser for S60 by Nokia (based on WebKit).

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posted to: Mobile, Technology | 4 Comments »