Mobile Widgets 2009: Portable Applications on Mobile Platforms

Mobile Widgets 2009: Portable Applications on Mobile Platforms

Mobile Widgets are beginning to take over the mobile industry and will change the way we use our phones forever. Less than a decade ago our phones changed from portable telephones into mobile computing platforms providing us with a variety of information at our fingertips. This paradigm shift has changed the industry in broad sweeping strokes. It has changed carriers, attracted software and hardware companies, even created its own standards for web development. The largest of carriers are changing policy, rate plans, and network access to accommodate the growing market. Software giants like Microsoft, Apple, Google, Sun, and others have millions of dollars invested in their mobile operating systems. Hardware manufacturers are finding new and innovative ways to make viewing and using our new mobile platforms more intuitive.

The exponential growth of this industry has turned it into a breeding ground of innovation, with new ideas being released to consumers almost daily. The marketplace and its leaders changes year by year. Only a short while ago Motorola was the dominant force in the market. Palm and the PalmOS used to dominate the mobile PDA OS space along with Mobile Widgets, now Palm ships many devices with Windows Mobile. Apple took the industry by storm with their foray into the mobile space with the iPhone, and once again Mobile Widgets changed.

Who will be the big players in the future? What is this year's Killer Application? How will Mobile Widgets change our daily lives? What platforms are strongest for development of Mobile Widgets? How is developing for mobile platforms different than other application development? This report addresses these questions and provides a foundation for understanding Mobile Widgets and the direction of developing applications on mobile platforms.

Key Findings

• Mobile Widgets can be based upon hardware, native code, portable code, and web based applications.
  
  
• Successful hardware platforms one year may be replaced by newer hardware innovations the next.
  
  
• WAP, WML, J2ME while still important, are being replaced with more traditional application development and web applications.
  
  
• Mobile browsers are evolving to rival their desktop counterparts.
  
  
• Dynamic web technologies such as AJAX, Flash, and soon Silverlight are finding their way into mobile platforms.
  
  
• The ARM processor platform is currently the dominant processor architecture of today's smart phones.
  
  
• Successful Mobile Widgets no longer need to come from handset manufacturers or wireless carriers.
  
  
• The Mobile Widget market's growth rates and recent innovations are predicted to continue to grow while other parts of the economy show signs of slowing down.
  
  
• Mobile Widgets are impacting how carriers and hardware vendors do business, causing changes that serve the Mobile Widget marketplace.

Target Audience

Wireless carriers: Carriers will want to understand the dynamics of mobile application development in order to ensure their networks can deliver what their subscribers ask.

Mobile handset manufacturers: With innovative applications that leverage new hardware features of handsets, manufacturers may want to include features that Mobile Widgets take advantage of.

Business application providers: Many of the highly successful Mobile Widgets target business and its mobile needs.

Mobile application developers: The market is changing and even experienced developers will need to keep up with changes.

Network hardware vendors: As the needs of mobile applications change, so will their demands on the networks that support them.

Marketing professionals: The mobile market is a large resource for marketing that has great potential for mobile advertising.

Handset accessory manufacturers: Many Mobile Widgets leverage new hardware features of today's modern handsets, accessory manufacturers can extend a devices feature set.

Web developers: Soon many popular web sites will be accessed by thousands of mobile users, web developers will need to know what those devices are capable of viewing.

Any industry that uses mobility, data, or other leading edge technology: It's quite possible that Mobile Widgets will be developed for markets as yet unrealized by the mobile industry.  
 

1 Executive Summary..

2 Definition of a Mobile Widget..

2.1 What Separates a Widget From a Bundled Device Feature?.

2.2 Examples of Current Mobile Widgets.

3 History of Mobile Platform Programming..

3.1 The First Widget.

3.2 Hardware Widgets?.

3.3 Hardware and Software Evolution..

3.3.1 Hardware evolution.

3.3.1.1 The Smartphone revolution.

3.3.2 Development platform evolution.

3.3.2.1 Palm..

3.3.2.2 WAP, WML, and HTML.

3.3.2.2.1 HTML and Mini Browsers.

3.3.2.2.2 Adobe, Flash, and Director

3.3.2.2.3 JavaScript

3.3.2.2.4 AJAX..

3.3.3 Development future.

4 Platform Architectures.

4.1 Platform Specific Development.

4.1.1 Symbian.

4.1.2 Windows Mobile.

4.1.3 Blackberry OS.

4.1.4 iPhone OSX..

4.1.5 Linux.

4.1.6 Palm OS.

4.1.7 Danger Hiptop, SideKick.

4.1.8 Android.

4.2 Portable Widget Development.

4.2.1 J2ME Platform..

4.3 Web Based Widgets.

4.3.1 WAP/WML/XML.

4.3.2 HTML.

4.3.2.1 Browser Constraints by Platform..

5 Key Development Concepts.

5.1 Size Constraints.

5.1.1 Compact Code.

5.1.2 Compact File Space.

5.2 Display Constraints.

5.2.1 Display Sizes and Standards.

5.2.2 Multiple Displays.

5.3 Input and Controls.

5.3.1 Input device types.

5.3.1.1 Keypad.

5.3.1.2 Keyboard.

5.3.1.3 Touch Screen.

5.3.1.4 Scroll Wheel

5.3.1.5 Thumb Sticks, Roller Balls, and Direction Pads.

5.3.2 Environmental Controls.

5.3.2.1 Motion and Orientation Sensors.

5.3.2.2 Light Sensors.

5.3.3 Peripheral Access.

5.3.3.1 GPS onboard and off

5.3.3.2 Bluetooth.

5.3.3.3 Infrared.

5.4 Network Access.

5.4.1 Connection Persistence.

5.4.1.1 Dial on Demand.

5.4.1.2 Always On.

5.4.2 Connection Types and Limitations.

5.4.2.1 Cellular Data.

5.4.2.2 WiFi

5.4.2.3 WiMax.

5.4.2.4 Bluetooth.

5.5 Processing..

5.5.1 Platforms and Speeds.

5.6 Web Widget development.

5.6.1 Limitations of Web Based Applications.

5.6.2 A note about WAP/WML translators, compression gateways, and proxies.

5.7 Licensing..

5.7.1 License Model Table by Platform..

6 Markets.

6.1 Mobile Advertising..

6.1.1 The Advertising Double Edged Sword.

6.2 Market Summary..

6.2.1 Case Study RIM...

6.2.2 Case Study Apple.

6.2.3 Case Study PopCap Games.

6.2.4 Platform Market Share.

6.3 Market Sizing..

6.3.1 Predicted Mobile Sales.

6.3.2 Predicted Smart Phone Sales.

6.3.3 Predicted Mobile Application Sales and Revenue.

6.3.4 Recent Market Developments as Growth Indicators.

7 Market Sizing and Forecast..

7.1 Smart Phone Market Performance.

7.2 Application Store Market Performance.

7.2.1 Handango Mobile Content

7.2.2 Apple App Store Mobile Content

7.2.2.1 Medialets App Store and Android Marketplace Analysis.

7.3 Individual Application Performance.

7.4 Recommendations for the Mobile Widget marketplace.

8 Mobile Application Examples.

8.1 SalesForce.

8.2 Dexterra..

8.3 America's Emergency Network..

9 Carrier and Vendor Adaptations.

9.1 Topology and Network Changes.

9.2 Policy Changes.

9.2.1 Open Network Movements.

9.2.2 Billing Plan Changes.

9.3 Infrastructure Hardware Changes.

9.3.1 Location Based Services.

9.3.2 WiFi Localized Service Hosting.

9.3.3 Network Monitoring Changes and Effects.

9.4 Handset Manufacturer Changes.

9.4.1 Integrating New Handset Features.

9.4.2 Evolving the Handset

9.5 Software Changes.

9.5.1 Mobile Browser Evolution.

9.5.2 Multiple Platform Mobile Operating Systems.

10 The Future of Widgets.

10.1 Innovative Solutions on the Horizon..

10.1.1 Context and Location Sensitive Applications.

10.1.2 Pay Point Solutions.

10.1.3 Swarm Data Mining.

10.2 Predictions for the Next Generation..

10.2.1 Obsolescence of the Wallet

10.2.1.1 Digital ID..

10.2.1.2 Electronic Signature.

10.2.2 Convergence of Portable Devices.

10.2.2.1 Geo Tagging Multimedia.

10.2.2.2 Geocasting, Personal Broadcasting.

10.2.3 Breaking the Phone Mold.

10.2.3.1 Unlocking and Starting Your Car

10.2.3.2 Authentication on a Computer and Elsewhere.

10.2.3.3 Remote Control

11 Summary..

12 Index of Tables.

13 Image Credits.

14 References.

 
 

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More Details

Companies Mentioned

Adobe

America's Emergency Network

American Tower Corporation

Android

Apple

AT&T Mobility

CoolTek

Danger Mobile

DEC

Dexterra

FasTap

FireFox

Google

Handango

Handspring

Intel

Land Rover

LG

LiMo

Marvel

Medialets

Microsoft

MIT

Modu Mobile

Motorola

OpenMoko

Opera

Palm

PopCap

Qualcomm

RIM

SalesForce

Samsung

Sony Ericsson

Starbucks

Sun Microsystems

Symbian

Taptaptap

T-Mobile USA

Verizon