Mobile browsing is a fundamental mobile technology, based on web technology, for presenting adapted mobile content and media. It is also a common playground for IT and telecom, where both industries are using Java as an application platform.
Mobile browsing belongs to the client-server, n-tier architecture model, following a mobile thin client strategy. A thin client is a general purpose client with a lose coupling to the server. This means that the end-user does not have to install specific clients for each service and unnecessarily occupy the limited mobile phone memory.
Mobile browsing is also a user interface (UI) technology for many mobile applications using telecom back-end services, such as SAMS-M JSR 212 API (an API for independent service access technology) for messaging services (SMS, MMS and WAP Push). Other available back-end services are telecom web services standardized according to Parlay X or, for example, Ericsson IPX back-end services for payment, SMS, MMS and WAP Push (for instance used by Java ME Midlets or e-mail push).
A current trend is to adapt existing web browsing technologies to mobile browsers, making it easier for developers by reusing already familiar technologies. Another mobile browsing trend is the emergence of small internet sites and communities providing specialized content and services to its members. Much of this content is provided by end users and members, according to the web 2.0 concept. This development is also boosted by the dotMobi initiative, a top domain dedicated to internet mobile content and services.
Here is an example of a small community mentioned above, offering specialized content and services to its members.
Wingchun Academy Association
In many growth markets, representing a large part of the world’s population, the mobile is often the main device for accessing content and services on the internet. Consequently, in such regions mobile browsing providing a rich end-user experience is very important.
In the developed world, internet content and services are now part of everyday life. And there is a growing need for access to the internet anywhere, anytime, using both fixed and mobile devices. This trend also stresses the importance of improving the mobile browsing end-user experience, making it more enriched and user-friendly.
As a consequence of the trends mentioned above, the mobile browser will become more and more of a Rich Media Client (RMC) browser giving end-users an enriched user experience. There are currently many content presentation technologies enhancing the basic mobile browsing technology, such as SVG-Tiny, JSR 290, Flash Lite, Mobile AJAX and Mobile JavaScript.
A Rich Media Client is commonly referred to as a thick or fat client, as compared to thin browsing clients. An example of a non-proprietary trend is using Java ME and the SVG Tiny standard for presentation, interacting with the mobile platform using Java ME standardized APIs.
It is necessary to support the new Rich Media Client presentation technologies. Equally important is supporting the requirements for standardized solutions for the mobile browsing area. This will make service creation easier, including the integration to back-end telecom infrastructure such as Parlay X web services, and enable rapid development and faster service launch.
Furthermore, there is a need for smart solutions on the server side, supported by the Java EE application server. The solution we advocate is the open solution Mobile JSF (Java Server Faces), based on the JSF standard JSR 127. This is one of the most important framework solutions for rich-media mobile browsing applications and will facilitate rapid development.
