MobUser

Last week mFoundry announced that Spotlight, which runs on Mojax, would support the iPhone. The question of how we would enable a Mojax Moblet to run on an iPhone has been a discussion topic around the expresso machine for several months. Mojax as a language is comprised of an XML based markup, CSS, Javascript, and a “Mobile” object model. By design, there is substantial overlap between the Mojax language and standard AJAX. As a result, the task of supporting iPhone will be the task of “transcoding” Mojax AJAX into standard AJAX.

Many approaches to transcoding Mojax were considered, but at the end of the day we decided that we would use OpenLaszlo as the target for the transcoder instead of directly transcoding MJX files into DHTML. I could list many reasons why OpenLaszlo is the better method of generating DHTML, but at the end of the day it came down to the fact that we all really hate working with HTML. OpenLaszlo’s language constructs and object model is pretty close to our own which will make the task of transcoding much simpler. An additional benefit to creating an OpenLaszlo transcoder is the fact that the Moblet, once transcoded, could also run as a Flash application.

It should be noted that by having a DHTML/AJAX transcoder for your Moblet also means that, in addition to running on an iPhone, your Moblets could also:

• Run within an iFrame on your website
• Run as a Gadget on your iGoogle home page
• Run as a portlet in Netvibes
• Run as a Widget on your Mac

Pretty cool stuff!

Technorati Tags: AJAX, mFoundry, mobile, mojax, OpenLaszlo, transcoding

Sorry for “going dark” these last few days. We have been working to finalize the feature list for the Mojax 1.0 Release. We are down to about 38 known issues and have recently brought on additional resources to help us with device testing.

Over the next four weeks I will be posting updates on our progress and device coverage. By the end of that time we should begin to have a good understanding of when we will be able to launch Mojax.

Mojax will be initially launched as a public beta that will be hosted by us and will continue to be free to use. I suspect we will keep the product in public beta until the Windows Mobile and BREW ports are finalized.

… which brings me to the next update … Craig has been able to get an alpha version of Mojax running natively on .Net CF devices. Performance is pretty good. There are only some small issues to resolve, but progress is excellent and I expect we will be providing access to a Windows Mobile version of Mojax within the next month and a half.

That’s all for now … have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Technorati Tags: Business, mFoundry, mobile, moblet, mojax

John Muchow, author of Core J2ME and blogger recently interviewed me about Mojax and mFoundry. We explored how Mojax came to be, the origins of mFoundry, and a myriad of personal factoids that were fun to compile.

I was originally drawn to mobile because it was a highly personalize experience that, with the right software, could greatly impact our daily lifestyle and the way we interact with the world. But the promise is still far from a reality … Device browsers are deficient, devices are inconsistent, standards are rarely observed, performance is unpredictable, operators discourage innovation, application development is cumbersome, SMS is expensive … DOING ANYTHING FOR MOBILE IS FRUSTRATING, DIFFICULT AND EXPENSIVE … after three years of dealing with all these challenges; I can tell you that I am am ready to do something about it. It is time for a technology that doesn’t add to the problem but instead starts to make a difference. I want Mojax to be that difference.

To that end I make the following promises …

Mojax Will Be Free to Use

Some of the most innovative ideas will come from individual engineers and small companies that cannot afford another technology investment. We will never charge for the use of Mojax. Instead we will provide value added services around Mojax … all of which will be entirely optional.

Mojax Will Be Pervasive

Mojax will run on all mobile device platforms. Before the end of this year you will already see support for J2ME, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, BREW, and WIPI; with support for a Native Symbian and Palm runtime sometime next year. You will never have to know *ANYTHING* about individual devices, you will never have to “port” your application or test on every device you want to run on … its the closest thing to “write once, run everywhere” you will likely ever get.

Mojax Will Download OTA

The Mojax runtimes are extremely small and are designed to be downloaded “Over the Air” (OTA). These runtimes will not need to be pre-installed by Operators or Device Manufacturers.

Mojax Will Always Be About the Mobile Device

I have no desire to see Mojax running on set-top boxes, toasters, desktops, or any appliance for that matter that is not a mobile device. Mojax will be highly specialize for mobile devices and will always strive to expose all aspects and features of the mobile device to the moblet developer.

Mojax Applications Will Be Easy to Develop

No one has the time to learn yet another development language and methodology. Mojax will leverage all the standards and concepts that have become standard in the Web development world (e.g. Javascript, CSS, XML, XPath).

Mojax Applications Will Be Easy to Deploy

If you have a Web Server, you will have everything you need to deploy a Mojax application.

Mojax Will Be Extensible by 3rd Parties

Mojax was built from the ground up to support plugins (or components as we call them). This extensibility will be available to more advanced developers that want to incorporate specific mobile technologies into Mojax.

Mojax Will Be Business Friendly

For as many problems as there are with mobile, there are just as many business models. “On-Deck”, “Off-Deck”, Ad-Funded, Subscriptions, One-time-fees, and the list goes on … Mojax will be licensed in such a way as to not preclude any business model. If you can find a way to make money off of your Moblet … GO FOR IT!

W00t! … finally the press release is out! We’ve just inked a deal with Sprint to provide their users with the ability to access their financial institutions using their Java enabled mobile devices. Branded “Spotlight”, our mobile banking solution has got all the bells and whistles. Using this application you will be able to not only check your balance, but also quickly pay bills, transfer money between accounts, pay off your credit card, and more! I can’t begin to tell you how handy this little moblet will be!

Technorati Tags: Banking, j2me, mFoundry, mworks

While technically only 15hrs later, I am going to call it a night. The Jaiku app is looking pretty sexy. I’ve posted all my notes and progress so far in the mojax Wiki

Cheers,
Rodney

Technorati Tags: AJAX, j2me, mashup, mFoundry, mobile, moblet, mojax

For anyone that is interested I am starting to build a Jaiku Moblet using mojax. To demonstrate how easy it is to develop in mojax I will be cranking this puppy out in less than 24 hours. If you are interested in following along I will be posting my progress as I go on my Jaiku presence stream. Feel free to follow along!

I am very happy to announce that Mojax Beta 11 has been released and it is FULL of new features, performance enhancements, stability enhancements and support for several new devices (including Blackberry). For the ugly details, take a look at the release notes on the mojax site. Over the next week I will be writing about many of the new features in more detail!

We are running extremely well on a lot of devices now. Over the next week I will also be updating the Wiki with a new Device Support list. The target families that have been tested so far are: Sony Ericssons, Nokia S60v3, KRAZR, RAZR, Samsung SGH-D Series Devices, Sanyo MM Devices, and Blackberry.

Thanks for everyone’s help. The feedback has been great. Keep it coming!

Cheers,
Rodney

Well, its been a year in the making, but I am happy to report that the Citi Mobile application has finally launched. Citi was the first step in a larger mFoundry strategy to provide Financial Institutions with a cost effective way to extend their web-based banking services to the mobile device that was both feature rich and easy to use. Powered by mWorks, the Citi Mobile application is extremely user-friendly and enables you to do most online banking tasks from virtually any device sold in the United States.

Congratz to the mFoundry crew that pulled this together! In particular, kudo’s to Bjorn Hildahl and Pat Middleton for going above and beyond the call of duty. This is a big day for mFoundry!

Shortly, there will be a video of the application posted at PRNewsWire (http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/citimobile/27674/).

Technorati Tags: mFoundry, mobile, mworks, Banking

On Jan 1 2007 mFoundry will officially be three years old. I am amazed at how quickly 2006 has come and gone. It seems like only yesterday that we were just a bunch of guys that got together on Thursday nights for beer and pizza.

2006 was a pivotal year for mFoundry. Looking back on 2006 I can see how much we all accomplished and learned. Going into 2006, mFoundry struggled to find the right business application for its technology. mWorks, our flagship product, was a mature platform upon which mobile applications were being quickly and cost-effectively developed and deployed across a broad range of J2ME and BREW devices. However, we realized early on that without a strong business vertical or “killer-app” to put the platform into context, it would be difficult to build a sustainable business around just the mWorks platform itself.

The following is an account of what strategies and markets we went after and their results …

“Premium” Mobile Application Revenues Sucked
The biggest disappointment of 2006 were Sold-to-Consumer or “Premium” mobile applications. Luckily, we discovered early in the year, that premium mobile content was a terrible business for anyone except the Carrier. Carriers took a hefty chunk of the revenue and the rest was split between us and the content owner. Consumer adoption of a premium application was heavily dependent on promotion by Carriers as well as by the Content providers. Carriers would not promote to the degree necessary to generate an interesting amount of adoption; and in the case of the Content providers, the Mobile application was a small part of their overall service and were not motivated enough to promote it heavily either.

None of us at mFoundry much cared for the concept of “Premium” applications but saw that it was the only way to get into the carriers and so did what was necessary. The one positive result from our escapades in “Premium” Mobile Applications was that we were able to create some lasting relationships with carriers and demonstrate to the world that mWorks was a real solution that worked … and worked well.

Free “Ad-Based” Mobile Applications Show Promise
Much later in the year, we created a very cool Moblet for Sprint called the “Sprint Mobile News Stand”. It is distributed for Free and promoted by the Carrier heavily. It contains some advertising and some sponsored content. Adoption of the Free content was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than any of the premium applications (not surprisingly) and the retention was better as well. It is a little early to tell … but this continues to be an area of interest to me and I look forward to seeing more Ad-Based/Free mobile applications in the future. In fact, I have created a small company called CellShift to explore how social networking, the Web, and mobile could be combined to create a compelling Free-To-Consumer/Ad-Based business.

Mobile Applications for Work Groups are a Proven Success
Some might rather refer to Mobile Applications for Work Groups as Mobile Application for the Enterprise, but I disagree. As it relates to a Business, most useful mobile applications enable smaller work groups rather than entire enterprises. mWorks is ideally suited to enabling specific tasks that are better served in the field where a laptop is impractical to too expensive. In 2006 we created some compelling mobile solutions for Work Groups that save their companies millions of dollars in costs that were eliminated as a result of the moblet. Success in this area has spurred other companies to license mWorks directly and build solutions for themselves. Mobile solutions for Work Groups is uniquely suited to mWorks because it can be licensed very cheaply and need not have massive adoption to be financially interesting to mFoundry.

Banking, Banking, Banking
In early 2006 Citi selected mWorks as the platform for their mobile banking product. This opportunity taught us much about the mobile banking space and by the end of 2006 we had a fully crafted offering called mBanking that we are now actively selling. mBanking will likely become the most significant solution developed using mWorks. Point in fact, it has opened opportunities and partnerships that would not have been possible had we been only a platform company. I can’t disclose the specifics of these partnership at this time but we will be making several announcements early this year.

mojax, The Next Generation
As compelling as mWorks is, I wanted to do more with mobile. As early as November 2005 I started to design a new platform called mojax. mojax is one of the worlds first Mobile AJAX Application Frameworks. Unlike traditional AJAX Web Frameworks, mojax Moblets do not run within a browser and are not subject to the availability and quality of a network connection. Also, unlike a web application running on a mobile device, a mojax moblet has access to lower level device features such as Camera API, Push Messaging, Bluetooth, Location Services, Contacts and more. Unlike mWorks, mojax is an extremely open system that leverages existing open standards such as XML, CSS, and Javascript to enable developers to create applications with even greater functionality that before but still maintain all the benefits of mWorks (e.g. Device agnostic, Easy to develop, and extremely cost effective to deploy). Mojax is nearing the end of its beta phase and we should start to see deployments of mojax as soon as Q1 of this year.

As you can see it really has been an exciting year. I can’t begin to imagine what 2007 holds in store for us. Best wishes to everyone and to all a prosperous New Year!

- Rodney Aiglstorfer

I was happy to see that I made the 2006 JavaOne Conference Rock Stars list for my presentation “Troubleshooting Java ME Technology: Tips from the Pros“. It is an honor to be included in a list of speakers like Josh Bloch, from Google, who did an excellent session titled “Effective Java Reloaded” and Dion Almaer, founder of Ajaxian who did a really nice Introduction to AJAX.

We’ve been using Google Analytics to track the usage of all of our web sites for a while now and I must say that it is one of the best web analytics tools I have used. Lately I’ve been digging into the Javascript code that I have to include into a page so that it can be tracked to see if it is possible to leverage Google Analytics to track Moblet usage.

mojax applications are effectively Javascript applications that run on a mobile device and as such share many of the characteristics of a browser with a few notable exceptions. As a result it should be possible to make all the same asynchronous calls that a web browser makes to the google tracking service within a mobile application. The implications should be obvious but a solution like this would provide the best insight into how a moblet is used as well as ways to improve upon it. I’ll post again on this issue once I have something up and running!

With the release of GMail Mobile, Google is changing the way the mobile industry distributes mobile applications and is validating the demand for non-entertainment based mobile application services. Along with Google Maps Mobile, Google is distributing mobile applications for free and directly to the consumer. As companies start to see the success of Google’s mobile applications more will start to look to mobile as the natural extension to their existing web applications. The reality, however, of building a mobile application for mass-market devices is not something a typical company can deliver due to the expense of developing a mobile application that will actually run across so many different devices.

mojax was designed from the start to enable companies and individuals without the resources of Google to create equally compelling mobile applications that run across most mass-market devices. In effect, anyone with AJAX development experience will be able to create applications of the quality of Google in a fraction of the time and with the resources they already have. The future is looking very bright!

This is a question I get often from “techies” when I refer to mojax as a Moblie AJAX application framework. There is much confusion about this point, enough so that I think it deserves discussion.

First off (for those reading that are new to the concept) AJAX is an acronym that stands for Asynchronous Javascript and XML and was coined by Jesse James Garrett to describe the use of client-side Javascript to create a rich user experience that rivals a desktop application but deployed within a browser. The power of an AJAX application over traditional software development is the fact that the code is relatively portable across operating systems, versioned and distributed from a central location, and authored in a high-level scripting language.

True AJAX support within all mobile browsers is a myth.
Mobile AJAX is what it sounds like, the use of AJAX concepts within a browser running on a mobile device. Companies like Opera, Mozilla, Nokia, and Access have all developed and deployed browsers capable of running an AJAX enabled web site … but these browsers only run on a handful of devices. True AJAX support within all mobile browsers is a myth. The leader in AJAX enabled browsers (IMHO) is Opera Moble by Opera. Opera Mobile however only runs on Series 60 and some Windows Mobile devices. Their Opera Mini product, which runs on most J2ME devices, is nothing like Opera Mobile and doesn’t support AJAX.

mojax is not a browser
mojax, conversely, is one of the worlds first Mobile AJAX Application Frameworks. Unlike traditional AJAX Web Frameworks, mojax Moblets do not run within a browser and are not subject to the availability and quality of a network connection. Also, unlike a web application running on a mobile device, a mojax moblet has access to lower level device features such as Camera API, Push Messaging, Bluetooth, Location Services, Contacts and more. mojax enables an AJAX savvy developer to produce an true mobile application that will run on most J2ME, Symbian, Windows Mobile, Palm, and BREW devices without any need to port or test across the devices they wish to deploy.

Moblets are applications … not web sites
In fact, because mojax runs as an application and not a website, an mojax Moblet offers distinct advantages over a Mobile AJAX application running within a browser:

1. Local Data Storage (Caching)
All Moblets have access to a global object called Cache. Via this object, Moblets can persist state across application sessions. It can be used to store simple string values, large XML data models, or even images.

2. Offline capabilities
Unlike a browser based application, Moblets can be written to work offline. All the application logic is cached upon install and unless the application requires access to an internet resource (e.g. Web Service) then it is fully capable of running offline and without a network connection of any kind.

3. Access to device specific features
Browsers running on a mobile device are strickly limited to rendering a web page. Granted, in concept AJAX provides a very rich experience, but it doesn’t provide access to device specific features like Audio and Video playback, camera, LBS, and Bluetooth. These are all things that a Moblet running on mojax can access.

With the success of Google and other sites that have used AJAX style UIs to their advantage, an upsurge in AJAX frameworks and Rich Internet Applications (RIA) are in big demand. To illustrate the point, Yahoo and Google have both created Open Source AJAX frameworks that extend their core services to the developer community. Suffice it to say that RIA and AJAX are the foundation upon which web sites will be created for the conceivable future. What is interesting to me is that many of these sites today are looking for mobile solutions.

What is most interesting is that all of the successful RIA frameworks available today are available as Open Source. The companies offering the frameworks vary as widely as the business models that back them up. Yahoo and Google offer their frameworks as OSS to build brand equity with the developer community; StartUps offer OSS frameworks that are commercialized with Tools, Literature, Support, and Consulting Services. One constant however is that these frameworks are being adopted at an amazingly high rate.

Mojax is a best-in-class solution that is positioned to lead the convergence of Web based Rich Internet Apps and Mobile by leveraging technologies that are de-facto standards in the Internet space today (AJAX, Javascript, CSS and XML). This begs the question, “Should Mojax be open source?”
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Well its the end of Yahoo! Hack Day ‘06. What a blast! Screenshots from our submission is on the right. We decided to create what we called Yahoo! Mobile Widgets as a way to show off how easy it is to create widgets for a mobile phone using Mojax.

On average each “widget” took between 2 to 3 hours to build. My favorite mobile “widget” was the Map Widget which used the Yahoo! Map API to produce a very beautiful mobile application that looks and feels *EXACTLY* like the Google Maps application.

All the code used to develop the widgets we built is now in SourceForge.

Well it has been a long road, but I am very happy to say that Mojax has reached its first major internal milestone and is now being tested. Developers have begun to use Mojax and the feedback is extremely positive.

Overview
mojax is the evolution of what began with mWorks 1.0; the goal of which was to provide the easiest way to leverage existing skill sets to develop compelling mobile applications that would run across the broadest range of devices. mWorks 1.0 provided a simple XML based language (MIL) with support for XPath and synchronous XML data services. Mojax is a complete rewrite of mWorks 1.0 which runs in a much smaller footprint (50k) and adds some significant language enhancements …

Mobile AJAX has Arrived!
The most important enhancement to MIL 2.0 is its substantial support for JavaScript, CSS, and Asynchronous XML Data Services … in other words … AJAX! If you don’t know the significance of that then know that AJAX is the technology foundation for “Web 2.0″.

Designers Welcome!
With mWorks 1.x we provided a lot less flexibility in the UI. We still believe that the SliderUI is a pretty slick way for a user to interact with their device, but we knew it wasn’t the only way to deliver information. With Mojax just about anything is possible. Much in the same way that AJAX libraries like Scriptaculous and Dojo are giving users a simple way to animated visual elements on screen, so too does MIL 2.0. Using MIL 2.0 you can manage graphical layers, animate any element on the screen, and even control transparency!

… and the best of all … IT’S FREE!!
Nothing is more frustrating to a developer than having to always have a business case and $$ to try out a cool idea … some ideas create new business after all! Mojax will be free for anyone to download and use for commercial and non-commercial applications. WHAT??!! yes, you read correctly … Mojax will be free because we have a number of supporting products and services that we sell in addition to the core platform. In fact we will be one of the very first to offer full ad-serving capabilities within any Moblet. All you have to do is create a cool mobile application and we will help you distribute and monetize it … its so easy to use we think you’ll love it!

Public Beta Coming Soon!
We will soon be extending the beta to the public. If you are interested in being part of this beta send an email to beta at mfoundry dot com!

At Mashup Camp 2006 I hosted a session on Mobile Mashups. The attendance was very high and the discussions were very good. There were, however, some serious misconceptions about what a mobile mashup was, how it gets consumed by the user, and what tools you can use to develop them.

Misconception #1. What is a Mashup?
Mashup is a very general term for an application that incorporates realtime data and services (APIs) from 3rd party sources over the Internet. A Mashup is often very focused and task oriented. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Google’s Mapping API, many of the Mashups at the camp in some way leveraged mapping as an element of their mashup. Mapping, however, is NOT a requirement for a Mashup.

Misconception #2. Mashups are always browser applications
This was by far the biggest misconception at the event. Although the browser is the most accessible platform for developing and distributing a Mashup it is by no means the only platform, and arguably not always the most appropriate from an end-user perspective. mWorks, for example, provides a platform for creating mashups that run as an application on your mobile phone, Apple Widgets and Yahoo! Konfabulator both provide a platform for creating a mashups that run as Widgets on your desktop, and the list goes on. The important thing to remember about a Mashup is that it is an application that leverages realtime data and / or services accessed over the Internet. The delivery mechanism for the Mashup is completely independent. In fact, many mashups are available in mobile, widget, and browser versions.

Misconception #3. Mobile Mashups are not as useful as Mashups that run on the desktop
The notion that a Mashup can only be valuable on the Desktop is silly. In fact many of the mashups that are available would be better served by running on mobile phones because they present information that is more relevant when you are NOT near a computer.

Misconception #4. The mobile browser is the only platform “open” to the developer
I think that many in attendance were surprised to find out that you could create a mashup using SMS and Java in addition to the browser on a device. The unfortunate truths about both SMS and Java is that they are not that easy to use … but thats what mWorks is for!

Misconception #5. Well, is it a Mobile Mashup or Not?
The truth of the matter is that Mobile can just as easily be an aspect to a larger mashup that has a desktop aspect to the experience as well as a mobile. SMS is ideal for sending notification which may be best setup and configured via the Web. Conversely, some information that is also available on the browser may be ideally suited for the device because the data is more relevant while away from the computer. And finally, some mashups benefit from enabling a user to contribute information while away from their computers but consume the information while at the desktop (think photo uploads).

With the MashupCamp coming up I am reminded how much Web 2.0 trends will drive mobile technology. When I originally started to design mWorks I had it in my mind to create a platform that would allow me to pull together interesting web services in a way that was intuitive and useful on any mobile device. Today, web services are now passé and terms like Ajax and Mashup are gaining in popularity; but this does not change the fundamental technology and concepts upon which mWorks was originally designed.

But I digress, I plan to attend the MashupCamp and compete in the mashup event to create a “mobile” mashup. To do so I have started to research available web services that could be used. As with any Moblet designed to run on mWorks; its less about programming and more about information planning. Questions like: What is the problem you are solving for the user? and Where will the information to solve this problem come from? are most important.

My research (with help from a co-worker Shannon Perkins), has turned up an interesting list of services and sources of services. Shannon pointed me to http://www.programmableweb.com which has an impressive list of XML APIs for creating mashups. Technorati and Feedburner also have some interesting APIs for navigating and browsing blogs and feeds. Sites like Flickr and TextAmerica have some interesting API’s for accessing a wealth of image content, and Google and Yahoo both have API’s for a variety of things. In addition there are some UDDI registries for for premium Web Services such as StrikeIron and XMethods.

At this point I am inclined to go with a really compelling RSS reader that is a mashup of various XML APIs and content sources. After creating the Moblet I will post it here for anyone to download. Wish me luck!

For the longest time computer games and more specifically RPGs (Role Playing Games) have been the strict domain of the socially challenged. But recently, games are becoming an interesting means for meeting new and interesting people. I find myself networking at a business level as well as a social level. For me, World of Warcraft is my choice of virtual space. World of Warcraft or WoW is a MMORPG developed by Blizzard and is now played by millions of players around the world. Of late I have joined a guild called We No which is comprised mostly of other professionals in the Internet space.

If you find yourself on Etrigg look me up! My characters are “Shizuka”, an Elf Rogue and “Fixit” a Troll Priest.