July 10th, 2008

iPhone 2.0 and all kinds of little mobile RIAs

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 3:39 pm

Categories: Apple, Mobile-Web, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Mobile, Rich Internet Application, Mobile World, App Store, Web 2.0 Player, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Ryan Stewart

I generally break RIAs into three categories: browser-based, desktop, and mobile. After playing with the iPhone 2.0 firmware, checking out some of the applications, and going through the experience in the iTunes store (one of the best RIA examples out there), I’m pretty convinced that the iPhone is the best mobile RIA platform out there.

The mobile world is incredibly fragmented. That makes distribution, development, and everything in between much more complex than it should be. The iPhone is far, far from open, but with that lock comes an ease of use for both the user and the developer. Developers know exactly what the platform they’re building for can do and users know that the applications they download are going to work. The App Store is by far one of the best delivery mechanisms for mobile RIAs and even though I haven’t actually paid for any applications yet, the built in monetary possibilities are good news for developers. And because Apple already has the processes in place to do monetary transactions, this was basically no cost to them.

The applications also show a lot of diversity. The typical Web 2.0 players are there (I grabbed a Facebook app, the Yelp app, NetNewsWire (which I love). And there a number of game and other productivity tools. From a developer standpoint it seems like it’s fairly easy to create a consistent look and feel between both web properties and native Cocoa applications. That’s a powerful draw as brand continuity becomes more important.

I was a little skeptical that all this would work and as a user and Adobe evangelist I’m still annoyed that there is no Flash on the iPhone, but Apple has a great RIA platform on their hands. Everyone out there with mobile platform ambitions should take a note. Now I just can’t wait for iPhone 2.0

June 30th, 2008

Is designing for the small screen more fun?

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 9:29 am

Categories: Design, Device Central, Mobile-Web, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Desktop, Application, Mobile, Mobile World, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Ryan Stewart

I have completely fallen in love with my iPhone. As far as I can tell it comes as close to the perfectly designed device as possible and it seems like I’m discovering cool usability aspects all the time. Things like when you get a text message with a phone number or email address you get a little blue arrow that lets you email/call or add that to a contact. Doing that on my Blackjack is a pain. And it got me thinking. Is designing for the small screen more fun than designing full fledged applications on the desktop?

Part of me wonders if that was one of appealing things of first moving to the web browser. Creating desktop applications was always kind of tough but customizing them was VERY tough. You were basically stuck with the same component set that everyone else was. But in the browser you could do whatever you wanted. You could get creative with new kinds of UIs and you could basically make components and applications look however you wanted them to look. The browser had a lot more freedom than desktop applications.

On devices it seems like we have even more power to get creative and less room to work with. Instead of thinking about how an application is going to look on a gigantic monitor we only have a small screen. Which means we have to focus on the user interface. We have to design applications that fit a bunch of information into a tiny screen. It’s kind of a fun design problem. The iPhone software nailed it and I think the plethora of iPhone applications out there do a pretty good job as well. My favorites are the Facebook application and the Brightkite application.

As mobile platforms become more mature, I think the payoff (gigantic numbers) and intrigue is going to make them a first class design environment. More designers are going to want to work in the small space because of the freedom and creativity it provides. That means we’re going to need good, solid design tools for the mobile world. Adobe has been doing some of this with Device Central but I think there’s still a long way to go and that it’s anyone’s game. Designers tend to be very sticky and it’s hard to get them to switch from what they know, but a really good design tool targeted at the mobile world could possibly do that. I think in some ways the mobile world is the Wild West of design and there’s no sheriff in town yet. In fact, I’d say we’ve barley got a town. That means there’s lots of opportunity for money in these parts.

June 24th, 2008

Mobile RIAs - getting more exciting thanks to Nokia and Symbian

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 3:40 pm

Categories: Mobile-Web, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Nokia Corp., Mobile, Open Source, Rich Internet Application, Symbian Inc., Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Ryan Stewart

Big news today for those following mobile RIAs closely. Nokia is buying the remaining 52% of Symbian that it doesn’t own and making the mobile platform open source. As Steve O’Hear said, the move is “bold to say the least“. At a time when everyone is trying to make a play to unify the mobile world around one platform (Android, the iPhone, the Open Screen Project, Windows Mobile), having the platform which already has a lot of reach and momentum become an open source player is a big, big deal.

The list of companies making up the new “Symbian Foundation” is significant. It includes carriers like AT&T and NTT DOCOMO, handset manufacturers like LG Electronics and Motorola, and Samsung, and other parties like Texas Instruments and Vodafone. In general it’s a wide array of companies that has broad coverage of the market. And any company can join.

Right now the Symbian operating system has about 60% marketshare, which is a huge number in the fragmented world of mobile devices. For developers, this is very significant. Right now for people creating mobile RIAs it’s kind of a toss up as far as which platform to go with. Do you build for the hot new iPhone and stay locked into Apple, do you bank on Adobe getting Flash up to par with the desktop player and getting penetration on a bunch of phones, do you go with the unproven Android platform, or do you go with the open source technology that has 60% of the market. Seems like kind of a no brainer to me, and I think a lot of people building mobile RIAs will agree.

I’m not sure what the development model - especially for user interfaces - looks like on Symbian but I’ve heard stories that it’s not ideal. Currently there are a lot of different implementations of the Symbian platform which is another reason it’s been difficult to build for. This will unite those into one platform which will make it more appealing for developers - which is the end goal.

If you’re building mobile RIAs then you’ve got a lot to choose from. On one hand, it may be frustrating, but on the other hand, you’ve never been a hotter commodity. Everyone wants what you’re creating so you can leverage that to get feature requests implemented, get better documentation, better SDKs, or whatever it is you want. Go to town and have fun - you’re on the cutting edge.

October 11th, 2007

You've got to rethink mobile advertising and look at mobile RIAs

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 3:34 pm

Categories: Advertising, Mobile-Web, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Web, Advertisement, Phone, Mobile, Rich Internet Application, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Ryan Stewart

In what should be a shock to absolutely no one, people don’t like annoying text messages sent to their phone. According to a survey from Nielsen/NetRatings and WebVisible, 92% of those surveyed said that receiving advertising on their mobile phones is irritating. A more telling number is the percentage that they only get advertising their interested in on the web and TV (56% and 53% respectively). The mobile space is huge and the monetization potential is just as huge. But the old advertising models aren’t going to work. Part of that is that the web experience on phones sucks. But even though the iPhone and Mozilla are looking to make that better, the old advertising ideas aren’t going to work. So if you want to advertise on devices you need to make it more like the web and TV; brand oriented and engaging.

That’s where rich Internet applications for mobile devices can be a huge help. Mobile RIAs let you tailor the experience to the phone. You’re not shoehorning web advertising or web experiences onto a device they aren’t fit for. We’re creating a truly mobile experience that adjusts to the phone’s environment and engages the user while providing a well-designed UI. Once you’re in that context it opens up new avenues for mobile advertising. You can deliver a video add, brand aspects of the phone, allow users to self-select the UI/advertising elements and present deals in a way that makes good design sense.

Mobile devices are becoming as rich as the web and using antiquated text based advertising is annoying and won’t cut it. Mobile RIAs offer a better way as long as you can keep it targeted and well designed.

Photo by m@burpee (blog)

September 27th, 2007

There's only one reason the mobile web sucks

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 12:01 pm

Categories: Mobile-Web, Rich Media

Tags: Web, Mobile, Advertising & Promotion, Marketing, Ryan Stewart

It seems like the bus tour makes me stay a day behind the news, but I saw a post by Scott Karp in which he gave five reasons the mobile web sucks. It’s what you’d expect. Wireless/Wi-Fi suck, the screens make it hard to view content/advertising and the mobile browser sucks. The first four are kind of true, but only when you’re trying to think of mobile devices like any other computer. They have their own set of requirements and the experience needs to be customized. You can’t cram a square peg in a round hole. But the last one, the mobile browser, is the reason the mobile web sucks. The iPhone helped show us that.

But the reason the mobile browser sucks is because the applications on the web aren’t meant for devices, and that’s fine. As I said, devices are a separate entity, and they should require a different site. I love the web-lite that most web sites use. When you’re delivering content however, that’s where rich mobile applications excel. With rich mobile applications you can mitigate a lot of what Scott complains about. You can easily add advertising that doesn’t get in the way, you can create experiences that are tailored to small screens and provide a mobile experience that the user enjoys.

The key is making it easy to create mobile experiences from RIAs you’re already building. The language, assets and platform should be generally the same so it’s easy to move your product from “touch point” to “touch point” where the touch point could be web, desktop, mobile device or any other kind of device. That’s been the power of the web (portability) but the demand for richness has allowed new platforms to spring up. Those next gen RIA platforms (for the most part) all allow code and asset reuse across devices and computers. That’s very important and it’s going to help speed the mobile experience along.

August 9th, 2007

Mobile devices and rich internet applications for increasing the reach of your application

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:31 pm

Categories: Mobile-Web

Tags: Web, Mobile, Rich Internet Application, Mobile Device, Web Browser, Ryan Stewart

I went to version 4 of Ignite Seattle last night and one of the talks that got me thinking was Beth Goza’s who is working for ZenZuiGnomedex but I think that their mission and the mission of rich internet applications is pretty closely aligned.

Content is the absolute most important thing on the web. The key is to get that content to as many people as possible. But there is also a huge value in customizing the experience around that content. It helps you differentiate your application from your competitors, allows you to use sophisticated branding techniques and gives you the power to make the experience fun for your users. In some cases, this happens inside of a web browser. Using RIAs gives you a diverse and creative way to present that content to your users which for all of the reasons above can help you get customers. But the increasing number of touch points means your RIA strategy has to encompass users accessing content from a variety of different places. This is where a good RIA strategy puts you ahead of the curve.

Rich internet applications aren’t just about the web inside of a browser. They should be about taking your web skills and deploying applications across the spectrum of the internet. This could be the desktop, a video game console, the browser, or mobile devices. All of these touch points require different experiences in order to appeal to users. The browser experience just isn’t the same on a mobile device (though the iPhone comes close). So the key is to be able to leverage both your skills and assets you’ve already developed to create a wide range of experiences for all of these touch points. That’s key to any RIA platform and should be the first thing you look at as you decide which one to choose. That way your content has the broadest reach possible with the limited number of development resources every company has.

May 22nd, 2007

On2 acquires Hantro Products helping Flash Video on devices

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 10:27 am

Categories: Adobe, Flash, Mobile-Web, On2, Online Video, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Adobe Systems Inc., On2 Technologies, Codec, Handset, Video, Ryan Stewart

Disclosure: Last week I announced that I’m working for Adobe. While I haven’t officially started, consider me an Adobe employee for all intents and purposes. I have the disclosure statement at the bottom of the page, but I’ll probably run this for a while just to make sure there isn’t any confusion.

Yesterday On2, the company that powers the VP6 codec that is leveraged in Flash Video, announced the acquisition of Hantro Products. Hantro is based in Finland and specializes in video players for mobile devices. According to the press release, Hantro’s customers include Nokia, Freescale, LSI, Vimicro, Sanyo, and others.

All of the various partnerships in the mobile world are still kind of a mystery to me, so I’m not fully certain of all the implications for the purchase. A quick look around Hantro’s website seems to indicate that they have codecs, applications, and servers. The players they specialize in seem to focus on low power cost which is a must for mobile phones. They also seem to have a lot of HD codecs but I can’t tell if those are running on devices or not. Some of their application solutions sound very promising including Mobile TV and the Player/Streamer.

So in theory, this means that the VP6 codec can run on 4 of the 5 major handset creators. The announcement of Flash Lite 3 was the first official word that Flash Video was coming to devices. With this purchase, It seems like On2 is in a position to work with Adobe to put Flash Video on even more devices and possibly work more closely with the handset creators themselves. Again, I’m not entirely sure I understand the ins and outs of this, but at first glance, it’s good news for Flash Video on devices.

On2 has been very busy lately. They announced a browser-based live encoding and streaming solution recently. They are also working with Akamai to support their live streaming solution (Andy Plesser over at Beet.tv has some good coverage). Akamai was the company that powered the video for the Amgen Tour application a while back.

May 15th, 2007

Project Orbit launches, puts OpenLaszlo on devices

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 12:08 pm

Categories: Java, Mobile-Web, OpenLaszlo, Rich Internet Applications

Tags: Device, Java, Ryan Stewart

Lost in some of the hoopla last week of JavaFX was that Sun launched Project Orbit, a runtime for OpenLaszlo that takes the DHTML from OpenLaszlo 4.0 and makes it available to Java ME devices. More information is available on the OpenLaszlo Project Blog as well as the official page for the project.

I'm not sure exactly what this means for JavaFX because mobile was one area where JavaFX was going to be focused on. It seems like there might be a lot of synergies with JavaFX and OpenLaszlo, so I think this aspect of the partnership is worth watching. In fact, from the project blog, I got this quote about the project:

There is a lot of low-hanging fruit here - integration with the OpenLaszlo developer’s console (a Java radio button), and tighter integration with the OpenLaszlo compiler come to mind. This is a community effort - Sun and OpenLaszlo are relying on folks to pitch in and help move the project forward. If you’re looking to contribute to a very cool, forward looking project, here’s your chance!

Aside from any future partnerships, Project Orbit gives OpenLaszlo a device footprint right now. There are lot of JavaME phones out there and now OpenLaszlo has a fairly competitive offering. As some of the news and commentary around JavaFX showed, devices are going to be a significant battleground for RIAs. Java has the lead right now in number of devices, but I think Flash Lite has a lot of momentum behind it and a better overall story. Now OpenLaszlo can jump into that and give its developers the option to deploy on JavaME.

March 31st, 2007

Adobe's Device Central makes rich mobile development easy

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:07 am

Categories: Adobe, Device Central, Flash, Mobile-Web, Rich Internet Applications

Tags:

With so much media push during the CS3 release this week, it may have been easy to miss the announcement for Adobe's Device Central, an application and social community aimed at making the process for mobile development smoother. Developing mobile applications has been traditionally very difficult. Working with the variety of handsets and screen sizes posed challenges from both a user interface perspective as well as a development perspective when dealing with devices of different computing power. Flash Lite has become an increasingly popular way to create applications for devices, and Device Central aims to make it much easier for designers and developers to use CS3 tools to create great content for the mobile world.

Adobe Device Central ties in with a lot of Adobe's flagship products, including Flash, Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Illustrator and others. There are different versions of Device Central for all of those products with a focus on specific tasks. For instance the Device Central version that ships with Flash caters to Flash designers wanting to build user interfaces. The version that ships with Dreamweaver focuses on creating great mobile web experiences. The Photoshop-focused Device Central lets you quickly and easily build prototypes. All of these tools then work together so you can quickly and easily take what you've done in Photoshop and bring it into Flash for a consistent experience across both the CS3 suite, and within Device Central itself. This provides designers and developers with a lot of flexibility in how they create rich mobile applications.

Aside from the workflow, Device Central also offers a wealth of information about individual devices. In many ways, it's an encyclopedia of what handsets are on the market and what the specifications and features are for each. Developers and designers can use Device Central's database to figure out which handsets to target depending on features. You can pick a feature, like a specific screen size you want to develop for, and then see all the handsets that have that feature. It allows developers to quickly group devices together so they can maximize their content for specific features.

Device Central also makes leaps and bounds of progress when it comes to testing content. It offers full emulation for all of the devices in the encyclopedia, including allowing the testers to modify things like battery power, signal strength, and system time. Increasingly, mobile interfaces are incorporating those attributes into interfaces. You'll see things like a background that gets darker as the day gets later or parts of the interface that actually dim the lower your battery gets. It makes the mobile experience that much richer, and it's important for developers to be able to test that. With Device Central, they have full control over the device and can make sure the interfaces and content are performing correctly.

With the number of devices increasing, and mobile content becoming an important way for brands and individuals to reach out to users, designing for the mobile world is very lucrative. Device Central is a great program to help with that, and it's one of the hidden gems of CS3. Just like the rest of the Creative Suite, Device Central really enables people to create great experiences, but this time, it's in the mobile world. See my Device Central gallery for some of the shots of the new program.

February 13th, 2007

Adobe's expanding mobile world

Posted by Ryan Stewart @ 1:17 pm

Categories: Adobe, Mobile-Web, Rich Internet Applications

Tags:

I had a call today with Adobe to talk about their mobile announcements and get a little clarification about what Flash Lite 3 is going to be. I had to wake up at the ridiculous time of 8:00 in the morning, but it was worth it ;). I posted yesterday but had some gaps in my understanding. Today, Adobe updated their mobile portal and during the call gave me a bit more info on where they're going.

Flash Devices

The numbers look good. There are 200 million flash enabled devices in the world, and that number has been doubling in number every year. This year alone there were 112 million flash enabled devices sold. More importantly in my mind, is that for the first time ever, the number of phones sold outside Japan was bigger than the number sold in Japan. We still have a long way to go, but it seems like a richer mobile experience is gaining traction outside Japan. That's key for developers wanting to use the Platform. Alessandro has been doing a great job of covering this.

Content

Adobe also had some good news aroudn their content distribution channel, Flash Cast. They signed up Telenor in Norway to leverage Flash Cast. They also signed Viacom up to deliver content to Flash Cast devices. So now we can get things like Comedy Central, MTV and CMT (who said that?) - brands that are important and can drive subscribers. In addition, Adobe is touting the Flash Home which gives developers the ability to deliver content by hooking into the home screen. Samir has a roundup of what this means. As the site says, you can use the home screen as a landing page for new content or new brand campaigns. It looks like an interesting idea for developers.

Flash Lite 3

I covered the basics of Flash Lite 3 yesterday, but got some new information that might be helpful. The release to OEMs is planned for sometime in Q2 and Adobe hopes to see those devices in consumers hands by the end of the year. I asked about the development environment for Flash Lite 3, thinking it would be good to get some information on whether or not it will be coded in Action Script 3. They didn't give me an answer on that, but I think it sounds promising. They emphasized that their current announcement is about the video capabilities. On the Flash Media Server piece, I asked if people using FMS would have to have special software or extensions for mobile devices. The answer seemed to be no, that the phones could connect to any Flash Media Server and get content. The only real restriction is the computing power of the device. I think that bodes well for hooking Flash Lite into the wider Flash ecosystem.