{"id":1738,"date":"2008-11-04T22:46:50","date_gmt":"2008-11-05T05:46:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wapreview.com\/?p=1738"},"modified":"2008-11-13T09:38:12","modified_gmt":"2008-11-13T16:38:12","slug":"2008-mobile-20-event-san-francisco-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wapreview.com\/1738\/","title":{"rendered":"2008 Mobile 2.0 Event San Francisco – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mobile<\/p>\n

Updated:<\/strong> Added link to slides from presentation by Taptu’s Stefan Butlin – 13-Nov-2008.<\/p>\n

This is the second part of my wrap up from yesterday’s Mobile Web 2.0 event.\u00a0 The first part<\/a> covered the morning business track.\u00a0 The business track continued in the afternoon but I chose to attend the afternoon developer or “Builder” Track.<\/p>\n

Caroline Lewko started things off with a welcome and some tips on marketing applications. Caroline urged developers to sell through as many channels as possibe and to not discount carrier partnerships,\u00a0 pointing out that 75% of mobile applications are sold on deck.<\/p>\n

The first panel on “Mobile Web vs. Applications vs. Widgets<\/strong><\/em>” was chaired by C. Enrique Ortiz and featured Tim Haysom (OMTP), Phong Vu (Nokia), Charles Wiles (Google), Fabrizio Capobianco (Funambol) and Jeff Sonstein (Rochester Institute of Technology)<\/p>\n

Enrique started by saying that the number of web runtimes has exploded in the last year and asked the panel for their take on that.\u00a0 Google’s Wiles argued for the browser as a\u00a0 platform and saw no need for web runtimes. Nokia’s Vu disagreed and was supported by Funambol’s Capobianco who felt that there will always need to be\u00a0 applications outside the browser and that web runtimes could provide a stable platform for them. RIT’s Sonstein countered that the browser was <\/strong>a web runtime and that what mobile needed most were standards for low level access to device data and wondered if BONDI would supply them.<\/p>\n

Enrigue next set the panel to work on defining the killer application in mobile. Fabrizio nominated “un-sexy” messaging.\u00a0 Other panelists mentioned voice, NFC and barcodes as possible “killers”. Nokia’s Vu feels that NFC will eventually replace Bluetooth for phone to phone sharing.\u00a0 In response to a question, OMTP’s Haysom said that NFC and barcodes are not part of the initial BONDI specification but are on the radar for future inclusion.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Next up, Brian Fling chaired a panel on the Mobile User Experience.<\/strong><\/em> Participants included Barbara Ballard (Little Springs Design), Christian Lindholm (Fjord) and Thomas Fellger (Iconmobile).<\/p>\n

The session was a wide ranging discussion on mobile trends as much as design. One major trend that Barbara Ballard sees is the entry of web developers and designers into the mobile space bringing “web thinking” into mobile, which is both good and bad.\u00a0 The web folks bring innovation but also have a tendency to force web design patterns on mobile, degrading usability.<\/p>\n

Iconmobile’s Thomas sees the emergence of new tools and platforms like widget runtimes making it easier to create mobile services and applications, most of which aren’t very good. These quick and dirty apps sometimes demonstrate innovative concepts which can then be built upon to to create something of real value.<\/p>\n

Brian Fling pointed to the Amazon Kindle as the tip of the iceberg of ubiquitous computing.<\/p>\n

Thomas sees the phone becoming a “remote control for your life” where the handset is your wallet and performs functions like opening doors.\u00a0 Audi is already bundling a phone that acts as a “smart key” with their cars in some markets.\u00a0 In Japan eWallet use has caused a significant drop in the number of coins in circulation.\u00a0 Most Japanese iPhone users carry a second handset because the Apple phone lacks a wallet function.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Next up was a series of lightning fast 20 minute development “tutorials”<\/p>\n

First was Taptu<\/a>‘s Stefan Butlin on “Building, dynamic, compelling, ad-funded, off-deck mobile web content<\/strong><\/em>” or “What’s hard about mobile web” Stefan identified five challenges:<\/p>\n

Handset Diversity<\/strong> – Taptu sees 3000 unique UserAgents a day, all with different attributes and quirks. Sony Ericsson’s tend to oversize text, some Nokia’s struggle with CSS floats, Many Motorolas including the ubiquitous RAZR V3
\nhave a very small page size limit.<\/p>\n

What can mobile web developers do? There are three basic approaches:<\/p>\n