Web 3.0 and Your Next Mobile Application

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Web 3.0 and Your Next Mobile Application

By Jonathan Goodyear

Apple Corp. ruffled more than a few feathers earlier thisyear with the announcement of the iPhone, its entry into the mobile phonemarket (http://www.apple.com/iphone/).Of particular interest, though, was Apple s decision to prevent theinstallation of third-party software and tools. This apparent logical blackhole was filled to a large extent at the 2007 Worlwide Developers Conference inSan Francisco when Apple announced its strategy to enable third-partybrowser-like applications to be created using WebKit, the engine that powersits Safari Web browser (http://webkit.org/).Supposedly, ISVs should be able to create Web applications that look and behavelike the applications that are installed natively on the iPhone. We won t beable to assess the truth of that claim until the iPhone is released on June29th, which is likely to have already occurred by the time you read this. Applereleased a Windows-compatible version of the Safari Web browser, though, sothey are serious about attracting developers who use the Windows platform todevelop iPhone-enabled applications.

The significance of iPhone application strategy is that itplaces an emphasis on Web technology for mobile applications versus thesmart-client strategy that Microsoft is promoting with Windows Mobile 6-enableddevices. Windows Mobile 6 devices come with the .NET Compact Framework 2.0Service Pack 1 and SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition installed in ROM, whichlends itself to the development of powerful disconnected applications withrelatively easy deployment.

So, how is Apple addressing the disconnected applicationscenario? As of now, they haven t but my guess is that they ll adopt a moreWeb 3.0 solution to the problem. If you re like me, you re having enough difficultydefining what Web 2.0 is, let alone Web 3.0. Briefly, Web 2.0 is the generationof Web applications that leverage modern client-side techniques like AJAXto create rich user experiences. Web 3.0 extends Web 2.0 by adding support forenterprise application scenarios, including support for disconnectedapplications.

There are two specific technologies on which I believeApple will likely depend to enable Web 3.0 applications to run in adisconnected state on the iPhone. The first is the Adobe Integrated Runtime(AIR). Formerly known as Apollo, AIR (http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/air/)uses Adobe s Flex technology to create a cross-browser application developmentplatform that leverages the WebKit engine mentioned above (hence, I think Applewill partner closely with Adobe on this). Incidentally, the closest competing Microsofttechnology to AIR is Silverlight, although Silverlight hasn t addressed thedisconnected application scenario yet (http://silverlight.net/).

The second technology on which I believe Apple will rely toenable Web 3.0 functionality on the iPhone is Google Gears (http://code.google.com/apis/gears/).What s neat about Google Gears is that it s an open source browser extensionthat lets developers create Web applications that can run offline. It includesa caching engine, a relational database, and an asynchronous worker poolmechanism (among other things), which will make this an attractive option fordevelopers of mobile and Web applications on any platform certainly on theiPhone going forward (and did I mention it s cross-platform?). Apple has astrong relationship with Google, so I expect they ll open the iPhone to GoogleGears before too long.

The reason I m focusing on the iPhone is because I feelits release is going to heat up the mobile application development landscape.Along those lines, I described in this column some non-Microsoft technologiesthat are making a compelling argument for inclusion in your next mobile Webapplication. While I personally wouldn t go so far as to develop an AIRapplication, Google Gears may prove to be just what I need to enabledisconnected features to some of my clients ASP.NET applications as well assignificantly reduce the effort to bring them to mobile devices. ASP.NET andGoogle Gears appear to be complementary technologies that can combine to offerdisconnected application functionality for mobile devices with the deploymentsimplicity of a Web application.

Will your next mobile application be Web 3.0-enabled?Microsoft is wondering that same thing. If the answer is yes, then Microsoftdefinitely has some catching up to do.

Jonathan Goodyearis president of ASPSOFT (http://www.aspsoft.com), an Internet consulting firm based in Orlando, FL. Jonathanis Microsoft Regional Director for Florida,an ASP.NET MVP, a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer (MCSD), and co-authorof ASP.NET 2.0 MVP Hacks (Wrox).Jonathan also is a contributing editor for asp.netPRO.E-mail him at mailto:[email protected] orthrough his angryCoder eZine at http://www.angryCoder.com.