What Can HTML5 Offer Mobile Developers?

This is the second article in my series on HTML5, the first article can be read here.  I needed to personally know more about HTML5, so am researching it and sharing what I am learning with you.

HTML5 has the backing of Microsoft, Mozilla, Opera, and even Apple and Google have their own sites celebrating HTML5 (http://www.apple.com/html5/ and http://studio.html5rocks.com/ respectively). Safari (both mobile and desktop), Google Chrome and Firefox also support HTML5.

HTML5 introduces technology improvements to HTML that help mobile developers by adding geo-location, user interface tools, and access to smartphone’s cameras and sensors.  HTML5 also adds media playback, offline storage, and 2D graphics capabilities.  Let's look at a few of these features in more detail.

Media Playback

The days of needing Flash, Silverlight or Quicktime to play music or view a video are over. With HTML5, plug-ins are no longer needed. The HTML quotation tags can be used to directly embed media.

A recent study by EffectiveUI Software Architect Sean Christmann showed that HTML5 video even out performed Flash on mobile devices. Flash did out perform HTML5 in a number of other categories, however. (http://www.craftymind.com/guimark3/)

Google now makes Flash video on Apple devices possible via its “Swiffy” project, which converts Flash files to HTML5. The first version of Swiffy was made available on Google Labs June 30, 2011.

Offline Support

With HTML5 (and a free SQL Lite database), it’s now possible for mobile developers to store data locally on the device. Interruptions in connectivity no longer need to affect your ability to remain productive with your mobile application. Capabilities such as caching of logic and local storage of data make this possible.

2D Graphics Capabilities

The canvas element is now part of HTML5 and allows for dynamic rendering of 2D shapes and bitmap images. It is designed to make it easy to add graphics to a page without using plug-ins.

In my first article on HTML5 we received two good comments that I want to share here.  The first is from mobile software guru Glenn Kletzky of Mobile Epiphany:

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Great Intro Post to the subject Kevin.  My group has been studying it at great lengths ourselves over the last few months, and your conclusions are in perfect sync with our findings. As always, you know your stuff and don't write about something until you do!

Another looming issue with HTML5 that is critical in the Enterprise is the concept of "Store and Forward". I suppose store and forward tech has been implemented in more than a few ways over the years in native apps, but the issue enterprises talk to us about almost exclusively is a store and forward capability that seems to be missing in the tech. We have heard some rumblings about “Sure it can do store and forward”, but dropping an XML file on your device is not the road enterprises seem to care about. It appears they need HTML5 to be a tech which secures and houses large amounts of highly variable data (BLOB’s, point data, etc) in a secure, encrypted and powerful database. Large stores of highly secure and encrypted data are often required to be successful in the field when connectivity is intermittent at best. And as mobile storage continues to grow (SD to 2 Gigs, then SDHC to 32 gigs, now SDXC heading toward 2 TBs over the next year or 2!) this really allows for some amazing capabilities in the field for Store and Forward requirements. And yet I don't hear much in HTML5 on that front.

I would love to know more about what you learn with regards to HTML5 and this issue.

Great writing as always Kevin.

Glenn Kletzky
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Brian Blankenship writes:

Nice post. Other limitations of HTML5, beyond APIs such as GameCenter and In-app purchase, are no access to key device features such as the camera, videocamera, accelerometer (to name a few), and future device features yet to be invented. In addition, HTML5 apps, especially via a mobile browser, just don't create the "attachment" a user has with a native app - be it due to user experience or be it due to practical matters such as having to navigate through a long list of browser bookmarks, that over time would be ignored. Finally, there is the monetization component - for browser apps, as opposed to distributing through an app store for payment, how do developers get paid?
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I recently interviewed Tom Slee from Sybase on HTML5 and how its data storage capabilities compares and contrasts to Sybase's embedded databases.  You can read the article here.

Please comment here and share your thoughts and knowledge about HTML5!

Upcoming Events

Critical Requirements for Mobile App Development:  Agility and Speed Strategy, Process, and Tools to Accelerate Mobile Development, July 21, 2011
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You can follow me on Twitter @krbenedict and read my blog, Enterprise Mobility Strategies.

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Kevin Benedict, Independent Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst, SAP Mentor Volunteer

Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict

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Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility analyst, consultant and blogger. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Mobile Data Collection is a Different Breed of Mobile Application

There is a whole category of mobile applications that is easy to overlook.  It is the mobile data collection category.  Many of these solutions are project specific.  That means a large utility, contractor or government agency needs to collect data on mobile devices in the field for a project, but there is no existing databases to store this data and/or to create reports on it.

When I was the CEO of a mobile software company I was surprised by how much database work my team ended up doing.  We were a mobile applications company, but since there were no existing backend database applications to store the data, we ended up developing those as well.  Once the database was developed, our customers would often want browser access and reports.  Good development work, but it could quickly divert your focus away from mobility.

Different Mobile Application GUI Designs - Mobile Epiphany

I am beginning to see more and more mobile applications that use photos and maps as GUIs (graphical user interfaces).  In the world of mobile augmented reality, the photo can be the main menu of the mobile application.

The image on the right is from an application called TouchInspect by Mobile Epiphany.  The founder of Mobile Epiphany, Glenn Kletzky, has many years of in depth experience in the electronic games industry and takes a unique and graphically rich approach to many of the GUIs in his mobile data collection applications.

This is a very interesting approach to GUIs.  It is not just a text based menu system, but images that can quickly paint a thousand words.  Glenn describes his GUI design as a finger-touch-based interface that is trainable within an hour.

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Kevin Benedict, SAP Mentor, SAP Top Contributor, Mobile and M2M Industry Analyst
Phone +1 208-991-4410
Follow me on Twitter @krbenedict
Join SAP Enterprise Mobility on Linkedin:

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=2823585&trk=anet_ug_grppro

Full Disclosure: I am an independent mobility consultant, mobility analyst, writer and Web 2.0 marketing professional. I work with and have worked with many of the companies mentioned in my articles.

Geospatially Aware Mobile Inspection Applications for Military and Commercial Use

I have spent many years working with mobile application development tools. Each of the vendors I have known speak about the simplicity and speed of using their tools to develop and implement mobile applications. It is, for the most part, marketing speak.

Developing a mobile application is as simple as the database schema of the business application in which it will be integrated. If it is a simple data collection form that can be integrated with a simple spreadsheet or database, then it is fairly easy and will usually take days or a few weeks to develop. However, if the user wants a mobile version of their ERP, then I hope they have a few months and a significant budget. The point is, most mobile applications that synchronize with back-office enterprise database applications are not easy and simple and this is a problem for companies that need to inspect a wide variety of things.

I have witnessed over and over the challenges an inspection company has with mobile applications that run on handheld computers. The applications take longer to develop and cost more than the inspection task or project justifies. As a result, the inspection company continues to do it by hand. In another scenario, one inspection project may justify the time and expense of developing a mobile inspection application, but the next project does not. As a result, the inspection services company continues to use paper inspection forms on the majority of their projects. That is the economic reality, at least until now.

Recently I read an article called "Kenaz and Touch Inspect: Must-Have Products for the Warfighter" written by Don Jewell. Jewel writes articles for GPS World focused on Defense and the military. He has spent more than thirty years in the Unites States Air Force, where he was involved with GPS systems from their inception, either as a test system evaluator or user. He served as a Commander at Schriever AFB, the home of GPS, and retired as the deputy chief scientist at Air Force Space Command.

In Jewell's article he speaks of a mobile solution called Touch Inspect by Mobile Epiphany. It is essentially a computerized, geospatially aware, data-collection application with an amazing user interface. "The user interface matters to our warfighters!" Jewells writes, "because one of the biggest complaints from our warfighters concerning military user equipment (MUE) such as the Precision Lightweight GPS Receiver (PLGR) and the Defense Advanced GPS Receiver (DAGR) is the user interface."

Mobile applications for the military need to be geospatially aware. I wrote an article called Network-Centric Mobile Field Force Automation that explores this requirement in detail from both a military and commercial perspective.

Touch Inspect is unique. It focuses on geospatially-aware inspections and provides a powerful pre-built platform in which custom mobile inspection applications can be developed in just hours. It is unique in that no coding or programming is required and the solution is designed by a company that has a deep history in the electronic games industry. This is quickly apparent when you see the intense graphics and sophisticated features that I have never seen before in a Windows Mobile application.

Jewell writes, "Touch Inspect allows you to build databases on the fly for inspecting things, and I do mean just about anything. But more than that, it is a flexible, user configurable database system that can be adapted for so many uses that are critical to our warfighters and first responders."

Jewell sees applications for this software in almost every aspect of a warfighter’s day, starting with running the various checklists they need to run for weapons, radios, vehicles, and GPS devices. With GPS devices and GIS mapping information right on the device (in other words, you don’t need an Internet connection to see your geospatial maps like you would using something like Google Maps), this new software really shines because it incorporates the warfighter’s current GPS position and time — or the asset’s GPS position — into every database entry, with photos if necessary. And this system uses the topographical maps or aerial images you want it to use, not just simple street maps. Plus, when the computer is once again in Internet, LAN, or WLAN range, it automatically updates the server at HQ and downloads new information automatically without any user interaction.

I recently wrote an article about the use of rugged handheld computers and mobile inspection applications following the devastating fires that killed 173 people last year in Australia. In this case the police and emergency responders had an immediate need for a mobile inspection application that was geospatically aware. This immediate need for a custom mobile inspection application could not be solved by taking weeks and months to develop a mobile application. They needed it now! Touch Inspect has all the appearances of solving requirements for near-real-time dynamic and custom mobile inspection applications.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
www.twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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Analysis - SAP's Emerging Mobility Strategy - Fasten Your Seat Belts!

SAP has announced this week that one of their strategic focuses for the next 5 years is mobile computing and mobile software applications according to SAP chief technology officer Vishal Sikka said. The pervasiveness of mobile computing and social networking also have SAP developing applications and extensions, which will allow wireless users to collaborate and utilize SAP and non-SAP related data for on the fly computing.

I write wireless industry analyst reports and provide consulting on mobile strategies so have been keeping a careful eye on this market. It is moving at warp speed now! After many years of mostly small software companies in the mobile enterprise software applications market, the big kahunas are jumping in with both feet and this will change the industry. Read a few of these article titles:

• Verizon Takes the Complexity Out of Managing Mobility in the Enterprise
• AT&T Extends Mobile Enterprise Application Platform to Consumer Goods and Hospitality Markets
• The ClickSoftware Mobility Suite is Launched
• Mobilizing Business Applications: Carrier Landscape, Part 1
• SAP Outlines Five-Year Enterprise Software Plan
• SAP to Launch Salesforce.com Rival in Mid-2010
• Google Maps Navigation
• Mobile Epiphany Launches Touch Inspect (see image above)

A quick glance at the above articles shows you that the biggest technology companies in the world are now taking mobility seriously and the M&A activities are heating up. Mobile Epiphany is not a large company, but its parent is well funded and sets a higher standard for other start-ups than was faced in the past.

SAP is planning to compete against Salesforce.com in 2010. Salesforce.com has a popular mobile application and SAP will be required to launch one as well to successfully compete. This is an example of what entrepreneurs should be looking for now. Opportunities to help the ERP vendors meet their 5 year plans with add-on mobile solutions that extend their business processes to the mobile workforce.

My analysis - mobile start-ups cannot simply have a good idea now days. They must do a thorough investigation into the plans of the wireless carriers, mobile device manufacturers, mobile operating system developers and ERP vendors to understand the solution gaps and market place ambitions before launching another mobile application. The enterprise mobile applications market has just been promoted to the big league.

The growth strategies for mobile start-ups these days in the enterprise mobile applications space should involve working closely with the wireless carriers, mobile device manufacturers, ERP vendors and mobile operating system developers. Mobile start-ups are going to need to get in the game quickly or be left behind.

"Sixty to seventy percent of the population have mobile devices" said Don Bulmer SAP VP industry relations, adding that mobile gear is the preferred communications and computing platform. "There are lots of opportunities for SAP," he said.

SAP users want to be able to use social networking sites such as Facebook to collaborate, said SAP executive board member Jim Hagemann Snabe. "Companies want to take advantage of these technologies without disrupting business," he said. Much of SAP's innovation focus will revolve around flexible extensions to core applications and processes, which can be developed and deployed quickly, via an on-demand or on-premise model, said Hegemann Snabe.

Mobile start-ups - Did you catch the model proposed by SAP? They want innovations (think mobile) that are flexible extensions to their core applications and processes that are available to customers in an on-demand model (SaaS).

Social networking is responsible for much of the huge growth in mobile data usage these days. Adding social networking to the enterprise market promises many opportunities for mobile applications companies as SAP has described. If the enterprise adopts mobile solutions with a social networking emphasis, you will quickly see the wireless carriers plunge into this market as well. Keep your eyes open!

I look forward to your thoughts and comments.

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Author Kevin Benedict
Independent Mobility Consultant, Wireless Industry Analyst and Marketing Consultant
www.linkedin.com/in/kevinbenedict
www.twitter.com/krbenedict
http://kevinbenedict.ulitzer.com/
http://mobileenterprisestrategies.blogspot.com/
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