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| Exception thrown #8 Fast, Smart, and Mobile: Understanding 'Mobile Web' and its future by Rich Katz (Java Skyline) May 20, 2001 A recent Technology Review article: Mobile Web vs. Reality Eric Knorr (Tech Review) is somewhat critical of mobile Web technology. But the article misses several important points. It first claims that enthusiasm for smart mobile devices is "waning outside Japan." The article then discusses DoCoMo - but goes on to say that the Web Application Protocol (WAP) is too weak a technology on which to base mobile computing. I have several reactions to this article. First, it may be a little to early to say "enthusiasm is waning" for a technology is not much more than a few months old. Besides that, enthusiasm for smart phones is not exactly "waning outside Japan." Large groups are in fact looking forward to smarter better voice and phone technology throughout Asia - including China, Taiwan, and Korea. Enthusiasm in Europe has also been far higher than in the U.S and remains so. And while last week, China received "be cautious" advise from its telecommunications industry, this hardly constitutes a dampening of enthusiasm. DoCoMo itself is taking a slower approach also. The high-speed mobile phone market: "Dialing" the right combinations So far, the value of smart phones in the U.S. may have been limited to some degree. Incumbent carriers have been slow to adopt smart phones and the technology that goes with them. And to be sure there are some software technology limitations. But another stumbling block thus far may be simply lack of effective product and market analysis. The high-speed mobile market is multi-faceted and complex - much like a Rubick's Cube. It takes time for marketing and product development to understand how to allign the elements properly to channel products that are appealing, productive, and fit well together. One reason for smart phone success in Asia may be that a lot of time is spent re-arranging the market cube and trying different combinations until they work smoothly. For example: people simply don't need to play space invaders on their phones. It may be fun, but the idea of putting games on phones is in many cases just plain silly. However, combining smart phones with other technologies like call control and download programmability can be a highly valuable for the voice related experience. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) language for call control is called Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP combined with Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) provides a powerful combination that can make a number of advanced voice applications possible such as conferencing, on-line CRM-based PBX, user presense, user follow, and voice-mail. Already tantalizing however, is the combination concept embodied in J-Phone's JSky which provides high-bandwith moblie access. The JSky idea would be valuable to consumers in the U.S. as well within the next 2 or three years. The recent Lucent-Sprint 2.3Mbit networking tests may make this possible. One thing this technology can do is to give you a high-bandwidth mobile computing - not just phone access - where your phone simply attaches to your laptop. The closest thing to high-bandwidth mobile that the public has seen so far in the US is the Richochet-style network that provides modem speed (56KB) mobile computing. Richochet is highly successful. But the Sprint or JSky idea blows the doors off 56KB. Apply SIP - and voila! - Mobile conferencing Add SIP to mobile and you get mobile conferencing. Add in high-bandwidth and you may eventually get video conferencing. SIP is an especially adaptive protocol. But you can't quite yet say that SIP is to voice services what SOAP is to Web services. One problems with SIP adoption has been the lack of a business interface to SIP. Effective use of SIP currently requires that you understand how the protocol works in detail. However, several voice server companies are developing solutions that may help. Ubiquity Software is now advocating a business language for SIP and the company recently proposed JSR 125 "SIP LITE" proposal for a Business SIP to the Java Community Process. Another company, HearMe, already provides turn-key conferencing plus a Web-based interface for conferencing, conference scheduling, and other call control capabilities and can operate with the newer SIP-enabled clients as well as more traditional H.323 networks. Another problem SIP solutions have faced is the high cost of gateway equipment that connects from the Web into the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN commonly known as "the phone system"). "Weak force vs. strong (Web) interaction" But all of this is not rocket science anyway or particle physics either. It's about Web information protocols and voice protocols. Reading the Technology Review article also indicates there is confusion about or lack of attention to differences between Web various protocols. The article talks about weakness of the current WAP. But the i-Mode protocol DoCoMo is actually using, and WAP II plus XHTML which Ericsson, Nokia, and others are advocating are much more powerful than WAP. The article is correct in that original WAP is a very weak interaction design. The other two, however, are not at all. DoCoMo's incubator Even if the U.S. and China don't immediately pick up on 3G phones it doesn't hurt them. Additional time spent in semi-isolation molding and fitting pieces togther the smart phone, high bandwidth, and Web will ultimately help the development and marketability of these solutions. |
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About the Author Richard Katz (richkatz@acm.org) is editor-in-chief of Java Skyline: Magazine for Java server developers. |