There are roughly two kinds of DHTML applications on mobile devices -
"device resident" ones and "zero-install" ones.  The "zero-install"
DHTML apps run inside a web browser while the "install-once" apps run
inside a special runtime engine. Some people tend to call both as "Ajax"
applications though the "install-once" ones are quite different from the
normal understanding of Ajax applications. 

 

Mobile devleopment has reached a stage that zero-install Ajax
applications are possible (eg. iPhone). This is bright spot of the
industry. What the industry needs most here is to educate and evangalize
so that customers can and are taking advantage of mobile Ajax. 

 

The "Device resident" DHTML application development is also evolving
rapidly- However, the alternatives (such as writing java application or
..NET mobile applications) are better ways for device resident
develpoment from a practical point of view. Standardization of such
seems to be premature unless we see substantial growth of device
resident applications using Javascript/DHTML on mobile devices. 

 

The biggest challenge in mobile Ajax is not technical. It is the
carriers. Their continued lockup of network access is the major
bottleneck preventing the growth and adoption of mobile computing. 

 

As a summary, Coach Wei's position is that:

1.     We should encourage, evangalize and help customers learn and take
advantage of "mobile Ajax" that requires zero-install;

2.     We should watch the growth of device resident DHTML applications
- before we take significant actions;

3.     We should work hard to overcome the network access issue,
together, as an industry. 

 

 

Coach Wei
Nexaweb Technologies