"A Closer look on mobile technologies to watch in 2010 and 2011"

Those include Bluetooth (3 and 4), The Mobile Web, Mobile Widgets, Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools, App Stores, Enhanced Location Awareness, Cellular Broadband, Touchscreens, M2M, and Device-Independent Security. Thomas Kaehler*, CEO of Communology took a closer look on two of them. Gartner on Platform-Independent Mobile AD Tools …”Mobile platforms will become more diverse through 2012 although consolidation will not have started, and, in some markets, five or more platforms may have a significant presence. Therefore, tools that can reduce the burden of delivering installable applications to several platforms will be very attractive. Platform-independent application development (AD) tools cannot deliver a “write once, run anywhere” equivalent to native code; however, they can significantly reduce the cost of delivering and supporting multi-platform applications that provide a more sophisticated experience than the mobile web and operate outside signal coverage.”…

Thomas Kaehler: We agree that fragmentation remains one of the biggest challenges in the mobile software market and the idea of platform-independent application development is appealing. However, we are convinced that it remains wishful thinking. As longstanding experts in the mobile application market, we have seen several “cross platform” AD tools failing. They might work for very simple apps, such as a calculator or Tetris. But when it comes to more sophisticated apps such as mobile social networking or visual voicemail, you still need to adapt the code to different devices even within the same platform. It’s true that it is possible to use large parts of the source-codes for a variety of devices or similar platforms, which is the foundation of our Livemedia portfolio of “basic applications”. But we also know that fine-tuning remains indispensable. It requires a deep understanding of the specs of the phone or even the network and sometimes access to proprietary APIs. Therefore, technical experience and a close co-operation of the developer and the manufacturer or even the mobile network operator are a prerequisite. We believe that the finishing touch is the crucial part when it comes to quality and sophisticated user experience. And this is why platform-independent AD tools won’t change the game. It’s rather about experts and their knowledge.

Gartner on Enhanced Location Awareness
…”By the end of 2011, over 75 per cent of devices shipped in mature markets will include a GPS. GPS will be the primary, but not the only, means of establishing handset location. Wi-Fi and cell ID systems will remain important in situations where GPS is unavailable or unreliable. The popularity of location-aware handsets will enable a wide range of B2E and B2C location-aware applications, and will serve as a foundation for more-sophisticated contextual applications in the future. However, organizations must be sensitive to local privacy regulations, ensure that applications that expose location are “opt in,” and remain on alert for new risks and concerns that will be raised by location awareness.”…

Thomas Kaehler: We think that the one of most promising application of location awareness is social networking. Many people already update their friends on Facebook about their location manually. Communology is researching a mobile application to automatize this. The user’s location will be generated automatically leveraging the GPS or cell ID and enriched with relevant information about the neighbourhood. Instead of displaying “naked” location data such as the address, the application will provide meaningful, context-sensitive information such as “at Bruno’s cocktail bar downtown Cologne” or “in Cologne stadium watching FC Koeln vs FC Bayern Muenchen soccer match”. This provides a simple way to share interests or to meet friends. This way, enhanced location awareness helps to connect the virtual world of social networks with the “real” environment. The research project is part of the initiative LocalMobile.NRW (NRW = German state of North Rhine-Westphalia) and funded by NRW bank.

*Thomas Kaehler is a long-standing expert with 10 + years experience in the mobile software business. He is co-founder and CEO of Communology (Cologne, Germany), a software company that was already supplying client applications to customers like T-Mobile, Vodafone, Nokia and Sony Ericsson long before the term “app store” was coined.


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