Updates from December, 2008
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Qurratulain Akhtar
2:31 pm on December 24, 2008
Tags: Gaming, iPhone, Mobile, Mobile Gaming
Almost all of us have played a mobile game at least once in lifetime. This fact makes mobile gaming the most active area of mobile content. The question that why people play mobile games may have many answers but a simple answer is simplicity and ease of use of these games, so anyone can play them anywhere. The popularity of mobile games can be analyzed from the fact that, the first question that raised with the launch of iPhone was, “Where are iPhone games?”.
Technology has always revolutionized things, especially the entertainment economy. Innovations like touchscreen have renovated the business economy till yet, but it’s just one half, the other and the big one lies in the entertainment economy. iPhone when launched was an innovation in the mobile handsets and sort of threat for the competitors, but since mobile is the industry with a lot of business models associated with it, it’s now having impact on many other areas of economy, especially the marketing industry with ad-funded games and applications. Particularly in gaming, it’s also considered as Nintendo and Sony PSP’s rival, being richer in experience, and providing same sort of game development environment to the developers. One other reason for the popularity of iPhone is the network gaming experience it gives with simple WiFi connections, that’ll get richer with 3G.
The reason for iPhone to revolutionize the arena of mobile marketing is nothing other than that it’s the best mobile gaming platform as compared to others existing in the market. And, it’s not just the iPhone buzz, instead the facts. According to the stats released by AOL in the mid of 2008, iPhone gamers generate four times of the page views as compared to players with other handsets, i.e. iPhone players have an average session of 21 minutes with 65 page views, while for others an average session is of 11 minutes with 15 page views.
Screen Digest which is a Global Media Market Research firm, reports that by 2012, advertising on mobile will worth $2.79 billion, and ad-funded games download will go upto 60 million per year [Source]. Since it’ll be touchscreen, ruling the mobile gaming world in near future, iPhone sounds to have the major market share. But the reason for iPhone’s lead in the market is not touchscreen only, instead it’s price and it’s popularity among all age groups and from different spheres of life, while other touchscreen handsets are having a target market of business professionals.
All above is my limited research, and m’ sure that iPhone will have lead in mobile gaming in the coming year. I’ll, however, appreciate if I happen to find some twist in this whole scene, with some authentic information.
Qurratulain Akhtar
12:25 pm on December 11, 2008
Tags: Mobile Development, Mobile Marketing
The world is evolving and the trends changing, making the world faster than ever before and technology more stable. With the invention of first pager in 1959 by Motorola, the world started getting mobile. The launch of first commercial mobile phone by NTT in Japan was the next step to stabilize this mobility.
The innovation in this mobility with SMS happened to be originated in Europe in 1985. SMS was a boom in the later part of 1900s and early 2000s, and still it’s the top cellular activity. There’re above 4 billion mobile phone subscribers, with 74% of them using SMS of which 94% of SMSs are read. Just in UK 1.4 billion text messages now being sent every week.
This is just an overview of mobile phones and SMS, innovations like iPhone, Blackberry, Android and mobile-internet integration are constantly opening the new horizons of excellence for mobile marketing. Web marketing is one of the most cost effective marketing methods with maximum outreach. Since there’re more mobile phone subscribers than that of internet users, so mobile opens broad ways for marketing from small and medium to large businesses.
Mobile-web integrated marketed is still in the process of development, reason being the lack of awareness among most of mobile phone subscribers, i.e. there’re about 10 million users worldwide using GPRS services that makes only about 0.25% of the total subscribers. But, this low percentage doesn’t mean that mobile marketing is not growing. There’re various methods within mobile marketing including SMS Marketing, Ingame Mobile Marketing, Location Based Services etc.
Ingame Mobile Marketing is the fastly growing area and the future of mobile marketing. The reason is that more than 90% of mobile phone subscribers play mobile games. From simple interactive real-time 3D games to massive multi-player and social networking games, mobile gaming is everywhere. This trend is accelerating the growth of mobile 2.0 on one hand and hence the mobile development on other.
Mobile development being the next big thing is now the focus of small, medium and large business, and hence it’s becoming a competitive industry. The competition is becoming tougher as the industry leaders Nokia and Google have moved to opensource, and this situation is critical for ISVs.
ZDNet also reports that, it’ll not be the great UI as only challenge instead, things that matter more are ideas and methodologies. Though ISV’s are more under pressure, but companies will have equal pressure and will have to face almost same challenges. It’ll be the race of collective innovation [what I can term it as] or Product Innovation [combination of innovation in methodologies, design, productivity etc] so, innovation in over all performance will win!
Haris Khan
7:41 am on August 21, 2008
Mobile space is the next paradigm of computing where more and more mobile devices are getting the computational power to now host interactive native applications. Offcourse iPhone has taken a giant leap but now other devices are also catching up. Recently we spent sometime to figure out which development environment will be best suited for new generation of mobile applications. In this report we have not covered FlashLite and iPhone. As a result we produced a technical discovery document to explore different mobile application development environments and how one can go about it. Below is the report and you can also download the pdf version of report.
This report was created by : Abdul Wadood, Atifa Nadeem, Naima Khan and Haris Khan.
Overview:
Mobile application depends heavily on the exact requirements. Our basic assumptions are stated in the section 3. Based on the basic requirement to create a very generic mobile application following are the three approaches in the order of our preference:
- Considering the basic and generic requirements Java ME is the ideal development platform. We can adopt different approaches within Java ME to reduce the development effort to make the application ready for all possible platforms and devices. Biggest drawback for this approach will be the application performance and security as this app will run on top of JVM.
- Second approach is to create a custom Mobile Execution Environment. We will need to develop this environment for each platform with minimum interfaces/APIs as per our requirements. This will result in more effort to create such MEEs for each platform/handset but application development will be rapid. Users will require downloading our own MEE just like they need to download JVMs.
- Finally the most stable and secure approach will be to create each application in platform’s native language. This will be requiring substantial effort but application’s performance will be at its best.
Development Platforms/Technologies
In this section we have briefly explained how each development platform will be used across different handsets and OS for basic features.
1)- Java ME (formerly, J2ME)
Introduction / Development Approach:
- Java ME Platform represents the only true open solution for building mobile applications for the industry. The technology allows portability of applications between platforms and investments are kept to a minimum through the possibility of reuse.
- The Java ME technology is based on three elements:
a- A configuration provides the most basic set of libraries and virtual machine capabilities for a broad range of devices.
b- A profile is a set of APIs that support a narrower range of devices.
c- An optional package is a set of technology-specific APIs.
Deployment Approach:
To be MIDP 2.0-compliant, devices must support OTA provisioning. The easiest way to package MIDlets for wireless installation is to use the J2ME Wireless Toolkit, which incorporates a small provisioning server that emulates a production OTA environment. Available in version 2.0 Beta 2 and later versions of the toolkit, this nice feature enables you to get an idea of whether a server will provision a device with your application successfully without the hassle of setting up and configuring a local web server to act as an OTA server. Some MIDP 2.0 features – like the push registry – are available only to applications downloaded via OTA. If your application uses those features, the built-in OTA server is a critical tool of the development process.
Features:
PUSH
The MIDP includes a feature called “PUSH Registry” to push data from server to mobile devices, without the interaction of user. The MIDlet registers a port along with the protocol name in the mobile device. From the server, a message is sent to the specific mobile device using the particular protocol and port where the MIDlet application is registered to listen. After the message is delivered to the mobile device, the AMS calls the MIDlet application. Once the message is delivered to the MIDlet, it is the application’s responsibility to process the message accordingly.
SMS Integration
- The Wireless Messaging API (WMA) is an optional package for J2ME that provides platform-independent access to wireless communication resources like Short Message Service (SMS). WMA can be used on top of CLDC and MIDP.
- There are many third party APIs available for SMS integration in Java ME applications. Some examples are Java SMS library from new-phone.com, SMS JDK from NCL Technologies Ltd, jSMS from objectXP, etc.
Data Synchronization:
- Recently released, Sun’s Mobile Enterprise Platform (MEP), provides two-way data synchronization with security, device management and off-line access features for enterprises. It can integrate data from a wide range of back end applications.
- A third party API, Sync4j is an open source initiative to deliver a complete mobile application platform implementing the SyncML protocol. SyncML defines a standard way to synchronize data and remotely manage devices. Sync4j provides SyncML client APIs (J2SE, J2ME and C++) that you can use to build an application.
Devices and Platforms:
Motorola:
- MOTOMAGX, Motorola’s next-generation Mobile Linux®, supports three different application environment– Java ME, Web UI and native Linux
- MOTODEV Studio for Java ME, Motorola’s robust toolset for developer innovation currently supports the Java ME application environment on many Motorola handsets and wireless modules
Nokia:
- Nokia phones have an extensive Java ME API set
- Nokia provides support for the industry’s leading open-source Java™ IDEs: NetBeans and Eclipse. Both IDEs offer robust tools that make it easy to create high-quality Java applications efficiently
Blackberry:
- Many new Blackberry devices support the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME), primarily because Java technology makes developing applications so much easier. Its platform-independence eliminates many porting woes and its automatic garbage collection lets developers concentrate on application logic rather than memory management
- In addition to Java-based handhelds, RIM offers a BlackBerry Development Environment for J2ME
Samsung:
- Some Samsung handsets give errors for J2ME (user experience). Some users have reported errors like Samsung not suitable for J2ME game developers, slow emulator, Java apps can only be loaded via OTA, giving “Unsupported content error” on Samsung F490 phone
LiMO:
- LiMO application developers will be able to use SDKs to write managed code running in a Java virtual machine, browser apps for WebKit, and native code.
S60:
- It supports Java (J2ME MIDP 2.0 commonly, but varies from phone to phone) applications and Symbian C++ applications.
Wireless Providers:
Verizon
- Verizon Wireless doesn’t offer J2ME support on their phones. Instead, it uses BREW but one can run J2ME applications via BREW-Authored KVM but still it is not that simple
T-Mobile
- Users are able to download J2ME apps (JAD+JAR) if they have an offline app, like a standalone mobile game but if the app requires an internet connection the users will be able to access internet if and only if:
- The application was signed with a T-Mobile certificate, or
- The user has a $20 “total internet” plan instead of the regular $6 T-Zones one, or
- The handset was not bought through T-Mobile
In short, if you are aiming for a mass-market consumer application and not just one targeted at business users or tech-savvy users, your hands are pretty much tied. The only way to achieve that goal is to go on-deck with T-Mobile
AT&T
- AT&T appears to be a little less strict than T-Mobile. You can download J2ME applications from anywhere, other applications that want to use socket communication, access to the file system, address book and messaging (SMS/MMS) will probably be blocked
2)- BREW
Introduction/ Development Approach
- BREW is a software platform that can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, sharing photos, etc.
- Using BREW, you can easily port your applications between all Qualcomm devices.
- BREW applications can be written using Java™, C, or C++.
- Unlike the Java ME platform where any developer can upload and execute software on any supported handset, BREW applications must be digitally signed
- The BREW developer community is fairly small and limited to Qualcomm’s boards and web sites.
- BREW code can only be compressed if you devise your own method or buy a commercial solution.
Deployment Approach
- Compile for the specific BREW version available on the handset.
- Installer Packaging Options: OTA
Features
Brew compatible mobile phones can get push based sms/email on the Alltel’s network
Interfaces like ISMS, ISMSMsg, ISMSNotifier, and ISMSStorage are there to handle SMS integration for BREW applications.
Open Mobile Alliance for Data Synchronization and Device Management.
The BREW platform is pre-integrated into the MSM™ chip software and includes reference implementations for many other device-specific issues (drivers and UI). All the mobile vendors doesn’t provide with MSM™ chip. So, we have very limited number of mobiles by default for running BREW application.
Wireless Providers
Every mobile vendor is supposed to provide handset with the support of BREW for different wireless providers.
3)- Windows Mobile
Introduction/ Development Approach
- Windows Mobile is an operating system for mobile devices, based on Microsoft Win32 API.
- Devices that run Windows Mobile include Pocket PCs, Smartphones, Portable Media Centers, etc.
- For application development there are different options available, including:
- Writing native code with Visual C++
- Writing Managed code that works with the .NET Compact Framework
- Developing an application using Java Me. There is a limitation if you develop an application in Java ME for Windows Mobile platform. Sun doesn’t officially support windows mobile devices and Sun hasn’t released an official JVM for pocket PC’s so you must go to a third party solution if you intend to use Java ME on Windows Mobile platform.
Deployment Approach
Windows Mobile-based Smartphones and Windows Mobile-based Pocket PCs (Phone Edition) can be bootstrapped by means of over-the-air (OTA) Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) push. This method is useful if the mobile operator prefers to bootstrap the device over the air at the point of sale or after purchase. In this method, a provisioning document that uses the format defined in the WAP Provisioning specifications can be pushed to the device over the air through the WAP connectionless non-secure push mechanism over the Mobile Terminated Short Message Service (SMS) bearer.
Features
The “Direct Push Technology” from Microsoft uses Exchange ActiveSync to keep data on a Windows Mobile based device synchronized with data on a Microsoft Exchange server. The ActiveSync technology on the device manages the direct push communication with Exchange Server. It establishes an HTTP connection with the server for a specified time, and then goes to sleep while waiting for the server to respond. The server responds with either a status indicating that new items were received or that no new items arrived. The device then sends either a synchronization request or another direct push request. Exchange Server 2003 Service Pack 2 includes a direct push component that augments the Exchange ActiveSync infrastructure that supports synchronization.
.Net Compact Framework provides different DLLs for SMS integrations (Microsoft.WindowsMobile.dll, Microsoft.WindowsMobile.PocketOutlook.dll). Using these DLLs you can integrate SMS Send and Receive functionality as well as SMS filtering support in your mobile application.
Exchange Server 2003 is used to synchronize data using ActiveSync. It uses OTA for Installer Packaging.
Nokia & Sony Ericsson
Net60 is an implementation from Red Filve Labs to bring .Net Compact Framework applications unchanged, to Symbian platform (the OS running the Nokia and Sony Ericsson Smartphones).
Wireless Providers
Most of the carriers have handsets with Windows Mobile.
If you have any queries please feel free to contact me at haris[dot]khan[at]zigron[dot]com

Download the report