The availability of Microsoft's push e-mail service last
week is the company's latest move to establish Windows Mobile 5.0
as the platform of choice for mobile users.
Interest in Windows Mobile 5.0 has grown steadily, and it now
attracts far more developers than any rival mobile operating
system. This should improve the likelihood of IT directors being
able to buy line-of-business mobile applications for the Microsoft
platform. More than 10,000 developers are currently working on
applications for Windows Mobile 5.0.
Part of the reason for this developer momentum is Microsoft's
programming model. Nick Jones, vice-president at analyst firm
Gartner, said, "Every device using Windows Mobile 5.0 has the same
interfaces, but that is absolutely not the case with other
operating systems, such as Symbian."
According to Microsoft, companies that develop for Windows
Mobile will be able to use the same skills they already have for
desktop Windows development. Staff with Visual Studio and .net
Framework languages, such as C# and Visual Basic, can develop for
Windows Mobile.
The launch of Microsoft's .net Compact Framework 2.0 last autumn
gave Windows Mobile developers improved managed code application
programming interfaces (APIs) to simplify mobile development
projects, plus a number of new APIs for Windows Mobile.
Future releases of Windows Mobile are expected to appear
annually, with patches and upgrades issued more frequently.
Microsoft is committed to ensuring that 95% of applications have
backward compatibility on its platform.
Jones said, "One of the great strengths of Windows Mobile is
that it has a single owner in Microsoft. Therefore it is a
relatively consistent platform, even when devices are produced by
different manufacturers. Although it is being forced to support
greater diversity of devices, we expect Mobile to remain far more
consistent and backward compatible than the Java operating
system."
Combined with the Microsoft .net Compact Framework, Gartner
believes Windows Mobile 5.0 delivers a platform that offers rich
features and good consistency between manufacturers and releases,
so is well suited to corporate needs.
The alternative programming environment for mobile applications
is Java 2 Platform Micro Edition (J2ME). Gartner has warned
enterprise users that J2ME is functionally far weaker than a
Windows Mobile platform. This is because it has a big consumer
focus, which means it is missing many enterprise features, such as
a file system, an embedded database, management and security
services, and middleware functions. Also, Gartner pointed out that
J2ME, by design, does not support access to device-specific
hardware features.
The second drawback is that J2ME is a client-side platform, so
it must be combined with server-side products, which may be
proprietary. Gartner said users may need to buy server-side
products from companies such as IBM or Oracle to provide a more
complete enterprise platform.
One of the main alternatives to Windows Mobile 5.0 is Blackberry
from Research in Motion, which is based on Java. But the device and
the version of Java it runs is severely limited, says Gartner.
Jones said, "RIM is a Java machine, so you can develop J2ME
applications for RIM, but it's the brain-damaged version of Java.
Also, the RIM device itself is an exceptionally limited piece of
hardware."
Companies can now buy devices from Motorola and Nokia that run
RIM's operating system on faster processors. Application
development for RIM was held up because most of its devices had
black and white screens.
The arrival of new Blackberry devices with colour screens and
third-party devices with RIM's operating system - Blackberry
Connect - increase the potential market for application
developers.
RIM organised the first formal meeting of its developer
organisation, the Alliance Partner Programme, this month. A total
of 274 organisations have joined the programme.
RIM's commercial relations director, Lee Underwood, said, "The
kinds of area where we have seen quite a bit of deployment are time
and billing in the legal market, data streaming in the financial
services market and sales force solutions, such as customer
relationship management."
Gartner rates Symbian as the third most important mobile
operating system. In a recent Gartner survey, 33% of IT managers
and CIOs thought the system was important to their companies'
mobile strategies.
Although Symbian is shipped in more mobile phones than any other
operating system, most are bought by consumers rather than
companies. Symbian lacks a common interface across all devices
using the operating system.
The closest Symbian has to a single owner is Nokia. The world's
largest handset manufacturer is encouraging application developers
to work on Symbian by standardising its handsets using the
operating system. Nokia's Series 60 devices use the same
implementation of Symbian. More than 25 million Series 60 devices
were sold last year.
A developer club called Forum Nokia has been set up to encourage
application development on Series 60 devices. More than 400
businesses belong to the club. Some 37% of them are developing
corporate applications and 31% are working on personal productivity
applications, including e-mail and personal information
management.
Some of the businesses developing applications for corporate
users pay Nokia for additional support.
Nokia's senior marketing manager for Series 60, Dan Shugrue,
said, "They get early access to devices. They get roadmaps for the
platform itself. The developers also get marketing initiatives and
they might want access to an operator."
Unlike Microsoft and RIM, Nokia has only just launched devices
that can be managed remotely by a user's IT department. The
manufacturer's E Series of devices will be the first that can be
wiped remotely. They will be released to the whole market at the
end of March.
While users have the choice between J2ME and Windows Mobile 5.0,
there is some degree of cross-platform development. According to
Gartner, tools such as AppForge Crossfire allow corporate .net
developers to target Symbian platforms, and third-party virtual
machines will allow Java developers to target Microsoft
platforms.
Windows Mobile v Java 2 Micro Edition
Consider Windows Mobile if:
- You already have Windows API or .net skills
- You want to use Visual Studio and develop in Visual Basic or
C#
- You are creating a complex (perhaps thick-client) application
that will run only on a Windows Mobile handset or PDA
- Your application needs an embedded small footprint SQL
database
- You need access to operating system services, hardware or
peripheral drivers
- Rapid application development is important
- You want round-trip integration with PC data, and applications
such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel
- You need a wide portfolio of device form factors, such as
"ruggedised" PDA, executive PDA and smartphone, with a single,
consistent operating platform
- You already have Java skills or tools such as Eclipse
- You are developing simple applications for the broadest
possible range of handsets and are prepared to sacrifice corporate
features for market size
- You are developing a complex PDA application but need to
maximise platform portability - by extending to Linux, for
example
- You need a better user interface than can be achieved with a
thin-client browser application, but want to maximise the range of
potential client devices
- You do not need direct access to operating system services,
hardware features or device drivers
- The target device gives you no choice, for example when it is a
Java-only handset
- You are developing consumer-facing "infotainment"
applications
Source: Gartner
What happened to the Palm OS?
The Palm operating system had the largest share of the corporate
market in the 1990s, but now Microsoft and RIM are the main options
users have. Palm was rated the least important operating system to
enterprise users in the Gartner survey of IT managers. It came
behind mobile Linux.
Nick Jones, vice-president at analyst firm Gartner, said, "The
operating system is very dated and the replacement to the Palm OS
is still up in the air. It's a much less sophisticated and mature
operating system than its rivals."
The Palm operating system was replaced with Windows Mobile 5.0
on Palm's own smartphone brand, Treo, last month.