Mobile Widget Development
Maximiliano Firtman!
Firt! Firt.mobi!

Inside Mobile July, 27th 2009
San José, CA
twi%er.com/firt
www.firt.mobi
www.mobile0nyurl.com
www.widgen.com
Maximiliano Firtman!
Firt! Firt.mobi!

What
Mobile Widgets

What
Offline capable mobile applica0ons
Icon in the apps menu
HTML, CSS, JavaScript, AJAX
Invisible to the user
Meaning in WebOS and Android
Mobile Widgets

Why
Vendors Roadmap
Device fragmenta0on is increasing
We need to be fast
“… is the future of mobile applica0ons”,
Google, July, 16th 2009
InsideMobile
Non
Related
30%
Related
70%

Positive
Well‐known technologies
Tools, Frameworks, IDEs
Web APIs
Low 0me‐to‐market
Por0ng
Applica0on Stores!
Only a few UI rendering engines
Easy to port from/to desktop

Negative
We s0ll need por0ng
Debugging
Standards
It's not na0ve, we know that..
Performance
Not for all kind of apps

Can Can’t
Applica0ons 2D games*
Web Mashups 3D games
Mobile Clients High CPU apps
Casual games Background apps*

Architecture

Architecture

Architecture

Cross Platform Standards

Cross Platform Standards
For packaging
W3C Widget
Apple Widget
For Mobile Pla4orm Access
W3C Geoloca0on & MWI
BONDI
HTML 5
Google Gears
Nokia Plaform Services 2.0
ad.ag/jgwajg

Tools
For coding
Aptana / Eclipse
Adobe Dreamweaver
Visual Studio
For packaging / signing
Nokia WRT plugins
Motodev.UI
Mojo SDK
PhoneGap Projects
Any ZIP packager!

Let’s talk about platforms!

Symbian Foundation!
Web Run0me
First class ci0zen
Available Today
Versions
WRT 1.0
WRT 1.1 [MiniView]
Plaform Services 2.0

iPhone OS!
WebClip with icon
Available Today
Versions
Webapps for iPhone 2.0
Webapps for iPhone 3.0
Hybrid

Palm WebOS!
Available Today
Unique developer plaform
Mojo Framework
Versions
Full feature apps
Browser based

Windows Mobile!
Since 6.5
Uses Internet Explorer
Versions
Widget
Hybrid (< 6.5)
BONDI Ac0veX (< 6.5)

Android!
Widget / AppWidget
Versions:
Hybrid
Offline webapp

BlackBerry!
Widget Plaform Announced
Private tes0ng right now
Will be first class ci0zen as COD files
Versions
Widget
Hybrid

Motorola WebUI!
Available Today
Future?
Versions
WebUI Widgets
Full feature Widget apps

LG Widget Platform!
Plaform announced
SDK available
Based on BONDI 1.0

Samsung Widgets!
Cross Plaform
Available at the Home Screen
WRT available in Symbian
Resizable
In Symbian, two plaforms

Opera Widgets!
Cross Plaform
Available for many operators

JIL – Joint Innovation Lab!
Cross Plaform
Future devices
SDK Available
Billing inside

Just for the record…!
• HTML based
– ACCESS NetFront Widgets
• Adobe Flash based
– Sony Ericsson’s Capuchin Project
– Nokia Flash (NFL Format) for S40
– Flash Mobile Packager
• XML and some script based
– Prosciu%o Project (Java ME)
– Yahoo! Blueprint
– Orange Djinngo
– Sun Java On Device Portal

Let’s talk about !
challenges!

UI Challenges
UI Frameworks
HTML / CSS
Mojo
WRTKit
iUI
Na0ve menus
Interac0on Mode
View only
(mul0) Touch
Pointer
Focus

UI Challenges
Mul0ple views
Links
Sta0c DIVs
Dynamic DIVs
AJAX DIVs
Layout
Fixed
Liquid

Code Challenges
Performance
Dynamic app update
Pushing data
Por0ng
Using body class pa%ern
Using one CSS and JS per plaform
Data Storage
SQL
Key/Value

Comparison
Available Today
Browser Engine
WebKit IE WebKit Opera WebKit
Package Type
Signing
Standards
Bondi
Distribution Channel
OTA / Offline Installation

Privacy and Security
If a widget is a ZIP
…
can I unzip it?

Can we create a one cross
platform code?

I think YES!
Define the UI
Define the app logic
Create the device detec0on framework
Port the logic and UI
Test & Debug
Package for every plaform
For OTA
Device Detec0on
Show Webapp or package delivery

To Read…

THANK YOU!
Twi%er.com/firt
www.firt.mobi
www.mobile0nyurl.com
www.widgen.com
Pictures from freedigitalphotos.net