Mobile Applications

The miniaturization of PCs in the form of Pocket PCs, Tablet PCs, and other mobile devices has provided new ways for users to interact with computers. This has led to a need to deploy and re-deploy many existing desktop applications into mobile users'hands. The deployment, however, is often fraught with problems ranging from poor business justifications, expensive development costs, technical and ergonomic problems with the mobile devices, imperfect connectivity, complex application development and release management problems. This book covers mobile application development and integration, starting with a core set of requirements that typically need to be addressed. The book goes on to describe mobile application development in detail. It discusses mobile infrastructure: mobile devices, connectivity, synchronization, connection methods and connection protocols. It covers the mobile client user interface: device dependencies, images, page sizes and orientation, efficient data entry and the need to minimize typing, and highly advanced technologies such as handwriting recognition and biometrics. The book presents fat versus thin client architectures and the hosting of web pages on Pocket PCs. It addresses mobile application security, including user authentication, data encryption, communication encryption and a data self-destruct mechanism on the mobile device. It also covers mobile application management, including ongoing maintenance and releases.