Network Content
&
Applications in Mobile
Devices
http://mobilepit.com/
Mohammad Hafiz bin Ismail
(info@mypapit.net)
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Mobile Devices
Handheld electronic device with
limited processing power and
connectivity commonly use by enduser consumers
Examples of Mobile Devices
Mobile Phones / Smart Phones
PDA (Pocket PC / Palm)
Internet Tablet (Blackberry /
Nokia 880)
Navigation Device
What is not Mobile Device
Laptop
Personal Computer
Game Console
Why Mobile Device ?
 Mobile devices has become increasingly popular
during the last 10 years.
 Estimate mobile subscribers around the world 2.7
billions.
 Currently Malaysia alone have has about 11 millions
of mobile phone users
 a figure which expected to increase over the years.
(Agar, 2004)
Devices Popularity
(Mobref,2007)
Why Mobile Device
Advancement of cellular technology has allowed




Greater data transfer
Faster processing power
Greater interactivity
Wider connectivity
Early “Mobile Application”
Limited processing power
Relies heavily on a server-side language
Depends on external browser
Characteristic by the use of WML, XHTML,
cHTML technology
Does not actually 'run' on the mobile
device.
Early “Mobile Application”
 Relies on the server-side to provide both
processing power and User Interface
 Little or no client-side processing
 No client side record/database storage –
everything on the server
 Solely depends on internet connection
Emerging Trends of Mobile
Application
Runs natively on the mobile device itself
Does not rely on external browser
Depends more on Web Service API
(SOAP/XML-RPC/REST) rather than the
website itself.
Concentrates more on usability and
content delivery
Why do we need Native
Network Mobile Application
Easy to deploy in commercial sense
Tightly integrated into user interface
Does not rely on external browser
The application can store data on mobile
phone
Faster retrieval and response time
The application can access mobile phone
functionalities (camera/sms/caller-id/files)
Examples
“Jeffrey wants to create an application which
enables him to share photos taken from his
phone camera to some of his friends”
Can it be done with WML/XHTML based
mobile application?
Types of Mobile Application
Email Applications
Video Streaming
Multiplayer game
News reader
Instant Messenger Application
Weather Forecast application
Currency converter
Location Base application
Home/Security Monitoring Application
Ways Mobile Internet Application
Communicate
Low Level
TCP/IP Socket Connection
UDP Datagram
Bluetooth RFComm
‘Virtual’ Serial COM port (on PDA)
Ways Mobile Internet Application
Communicate
High Level (The BEST Way!)
Achieve through the use of Web Services
 XML-RPC
 SOAP
 ATOM api
 Representational-State Transfer (REST)
Why Web Services is the best way?
 Uses distributed computing concept
 Widely accepted as a ways to publish API
 Portable, Web Services only relies on
HTTP/HTTPS availability
 Becomes an Emerging standards of
publishing services (W3C, RFC 4287)
Organization that uses Web Service
 Google.com (ATOM -GData, SOAP)
 Yahoo.com (SOAP)
 Amazon.com (SOAP)
 Wordpress.com (XML-RPC)
 Haze.net.my (REST)
 Foxrate.org (XML-RPC)
Organization that uses Web Service
Amazon.com
Publish Web API to enable developers to
create application that can list latest
Amazon product, price comparison and
heavily discounted and popular items
Organization that uses Web Service
 Flickr.com
Uses web service API to enable its users to
post/update photos using any application.
Mobile application that uses Flickr API :
MobUp (http://mobup.blogspot.com)
j2meMap (http://j2memap.sf.net)
Mickr (http://www.mickr.de/)
Flickr.com Client Screenshots
MobUp
Mickr
How Web Services Architecture Works ?
DB
DB
Procedure
stored on the
server
XML-RPC API Server (http://foxrate.org)
currencyConvert(USD,MYR,100)
Less of 1KB data
DB
Result() = 353.71
Less than 1KB data
User Interface is inside
the phone
But the same application can be
written in WML!
Why bother? Any opinion ?
Web Service is better because
 It separates the developers work and the
service providers work
 Developers only concentrates on their best
expertise, developing mobile clients.
 Developers does not need to maintain the
information itself
Web Service is better because
 In mobile application, size DOES matter!
 Data transfer need to be optimized for
faster response time (latency) and cost)
 Locally run Mobile Internet Application that
uses Web Service do just that!
Bandwidth & Data transfer efficiency
Typical WML Application
Request website
Website (interface) displayed
index.wml – 4KB
foxrate.org
foxrate.org
foxrate.org
User request currency exchange
(process.php) – less than 1KB
Bandwidth & Data transfer efficiency
DB
DB
Procedure
stored on the
server
XML-RPC API Server (http://foxrate.org)
currencyConvert(USD,MYR,100)
Less of 1KB data
Total Data transfer = 1KB + 1KB
= 2KB
DB
Result() = RM 353.71
Less than 1KB data
User Interface is inside
the phone
Bandwidth & Data transfer efficiency
Typical WML Application
foxrate.org
Result displayed
result.wml (3KB)
Total Data transfer = 4KB + 3KB + 1KB = 8KB
Web Services is 4 times smaller than a typical
WML application !
Why?
 The main reason is the user interface of
WML application is stored on the server
not client
 By using web service we are free to create
our own user interface independent of the
service provider.
WML Drawbacks from Commercial
Aspect
 WML application are hard to sell
 Hard to distribute
 Require constant maintenance (server)
 Hard to customize on the mobile phone
part (different vendor wants to put their
own logo, endorsement)
 WML application can’t use phone features
(camera,bluetooth, GPS, InfraRed)
Further Reading on Web Services
XML-RPC
 http://xmlrpc.com
 http://www.xml-rpc.net/
SOAP
 http://www.w3.org/TR/soap/
 http://www.soaprpc.com/ws_implementatio
ns.html
What Next ?
Location Base Application (GPS)
 Car Navigation
 Fishing Spot Finder
 Speed Warning (GPS Auto)
 GPSolat
More mobile phones are equipped with GPS
receiver, it’s the latest trend!
Location Base Application
GPSolat – Prayer time base on GPS
 Prayer time is different according to
location, season and direction.
 GPSolat uses location data to determine
the Kiblah direction and users’ current
location
 Base on that it can calculates prayers time.
 No need to worry about prayers time when
travelling anymore!!
Internet Mobile Application SDK
You can create Internet Mobile Application using any of
these platforms
 JavaME (http://sun.java.com/javame)
 Symbian (http://forums.nokia.com) (Nokia)
 .NET Compact Framework
(http://msdn.microsoft.com/mobility/netcf/) (PDA)
JavaME
 The best SDK for learning
 Supported by almost all modern phones
 Has great documentation
 Uses Java
 Has a lot of libraries
 Implementations guaranteed to support
HTTP/HTTPS protocol for communication.
 Portable
.NET Compact Framework
 Great for people who are familiar with
.NET
 Supported by Windows Mobile PDA
devices only
 More powerful than JavaME
 Tighter integration with device
(Microsoft+Microsoft)
Symbian
 Uses C++
 Harder to code compared with others
 Very close to hardware implementation
 Limited device, only supported on some
Nokia and Sony Ericsson Smartphone
Screenshots
Why Develop Mobile Application?
 The Desktop application market has been saturated
and controlled by bigger companies. (i.e nobody uses
other application than MS-Word, Powerpoint)
 Mobile devices is the new playground.
 Opportunities to develop localized content
 Huge marketplace, can compete with each other
fairly.
 Niche Market, you can sell through telcos
Places to publish Mobile Application
 Handago.com
 GetJar.com
 Payloadz.com
 PocketGear.com
 MypdaCafe.com
And many others!
Network Content
Applications in Mobile Devices
Q&A