Investigation Report Mobile Technology Investigation
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- Summary Introduction
- Investigation Survey
- Mobile Browsers and the Internet
- Mobile Browsers – Third Party
- Mobile Browsers - Native
- Mobile Development - Native Applications
- Objective Investigate and trail some of the environments required to develop popular native applications Key Findings
- Development Language: C, VB.Net
- .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP 1 - Free
- Hardware (Virtual Server)
- Analysis Note Survey Results and Analysis to be completed – The following proposal could be subject to change. Options
- Implement an SMS Text Service.
- Catch up and leverage off existing MIT framework.
- Re-Architect existing services.
- Develop all new components for browser capability, not hardware category
- Provide the best user experience.
- Note - Native Applications
- Appendix A – Survey and Results
- Appendix B – Outputs, References and Resources
- SharePoint Document Site
Feb/Mar 2010 Revision History
Table of ContentsFeb/Mar 2010 1 Table of Contents 2 Summary 3 Investigation 4 Analysis 14 Appendix A – Survey and Results 19 Appendix B – Outputs, References and Resources 22 SummaryIntroductionAn investigation was requested by the ICT Director into the provisioning of Mobile Phone Services for Students at the University of Canterbury. Approach
VisionA student receives an SMS Text Announcement regarding a seminar that is being presented by a visiting lecturer which is important to the Students field of research. Unfortunately the Student is unable to attend. The following day the Student is notified that he can visit m.canterbury.ac.nz to watch a video of the lecture on UCTV. He does this via his mobile phone in a period between his regular lectures, enabling him to join in with the discussion with his peers his next lecture. The Proposal outlined in this investigation is aimed at providing a platform that can enable Students and the University of Canterbury to realise this vision for Mobile Devices. InvestigationSurveyObjectiveAn important component of this investigation was to compose and conduct a Survey determining Students expectations for Mobile Devices in a world class learning environment. Questions were constructed to determine:
A copy of the Survey questions and analysis for this investigation can be found in Appendix A Key FindingsThe results of this survey have been used to prioritise the services and to highlight the preferred delivery mechanism. These results can be considered in conjunction with the Universities initiatives of providing services via all Interface Devices and User Interfaces. Note Survey Results and Analysis to be completed Facts and Figures are to be confirm and will be implemented and relevant updates made throughout this document. This is expected to be completed for the end of March
To be completed – (Types of Phones, Browser Usage, Preferred Delivery, Expectations) 
SMS Text ServicesOverviewNote Survey to be completed – Facts and Figures to be included SMS Texts are valued highly and still a preferred delivery option for pushed data and alerts. ObjectiveThis investigation looked at various options for the Push and Pull (SMS Request) of data via SMS. A Selection of utilities and Services were looked into including some prototyping and trialling. Details of the key findings are summarised below and further information is detailed in Appendix B. Key FindingsClickatell
Delivery Acknowledgment Delivery delay Coverage Query Stop/Delete Message Query balance Query Message Status Get Message Charge Batch Sending SSL Encryption Two-Way Messaging
CostsUses credit based accounting for sending messages. 1 credit will generally = 1 message, however, this is dependent on the network operators in the region.
Cost based on a volume purchase of 250,000 – 499,000 credits (March 2010) eTXT (Telecom)eTXT provides limited functionality and service in comparison to Clickatell. It provides a basic solution to send a single message to a number of users.
CostsSet up fee of $99 Monthly Access fee of $10 per account 10c per message sent to each Telecom Mobile 17c per message sent to other New Zealand network handsets Twitter is an extremely popular social networking website (75,000,000 Registered Users - March 2010) which was design with a 140 character limit so tweets can be sent as mobile text messages. The Twitter service provides a REST API which allows developers full interaction with the site.
CostsThis service was free once the phone was registered and the user profile was configured. Mobile Browsers and the InternetOverviewMobile phone browsers vary in capability and are designed with optimisation to display Web content effectively on small screens. This is coupled with the history of the fragmentation in the mobile device-channel, the low memory of mobile devices and low-bandwidth. The University of Canterbury does not currently have a wireless portal e.g. m.canterbury.ac.nz where mobile users are directed to a Portal of Services that render to the potential of the device, and more recently, to more intelligent browsers that Users install on their devices instead of the native browser. Common Solutions to providing a wireless portal include:
The need for users to access existing web sites, so that they have full functionality of their favourite sites has, more recently been addressed by some Mobile Browsers that are now competing in a market that is becoming comparable to the desktop/laptop Web Browser. ObjectiveMobile browsers are advancing rapidly along with the capabilities Smart Phone devices. Potentially this reduces the investment need required to render content for devices as users upgrade devices and/or install the latest Mobile Browsers. Investigate the most popular browsers, their capabilities, recent developments and the options they provide and highlight the capabilities direction that they are taking. Key FindingsMobile Browsers – Third PartyOpera Mobile
Proxy Browsers
Opera Mini
Skyfire
Mobile Browsers - NativeWebKitMany of the native browsers are based on the WebKit layout engine. These include:
WebKit is an Open-Source rendering engine with development included from Apple, Nokia, Google, RIM and Palm. Due to the nature of this engine there is a set of standard capabilities available throughout these devices HTML5HTML 5 provides a range of key capabilities available to mobile devices. The native iPhone and iPad, Google Android, Nokia, and Palm browsers are based on the WebKit browser engine which is coupled with HTML 5 support. In addition to this, Opera is a leading developer of HTML 5. Features of HTML5 include offline support (AppCache and Database APIs) which presents a platform for building sophisticated mobile Web applications based on standards. On the whole this represents a large percentage of the Smartphone market. Microsoft has hinted at its future support for HTML 5 in Internet Explorer 9 and further announcements are expected at Mix10 SilverlightSilverlight’s target is to provide the ability to deploy the same content on multiple platforms. Silverlight has the ability to run full web applications. Recent developments and announcements include Silverlight capabilities such as:
Silverlight already has a range of capabilities across the main desktop browsers and platforms, and indications are this is expanding and opening up into the competition within the Mobile Device and Browser market. Mobile Development - Native ApplicationsOverviewThere is a lot of activity and big business around mobile native applications across Smart Phones and their respective application stores. These applications give users and developers the potential to leverage off the full capabilities of the device, including the features such as GPS and the Touch screen. The benefits of this are that the application will be presented and function as designed, on the flip side they will be device specific. ObjectiveInvestigate and trail some of the environments required to develop popular native applications Key FindingsApple iPhoneDevelopment
For further details see Appendix B CostsThese assumptions made here is for the setup cost for an environment for a developer to develop iPhone applications within the ICTS Solution Delivery within its current operating environment. SDK - Free Mac running Mac OS X Leopard or later – (from $2000) Developer Program $99 or Enterprise Program $299 which provide the following
Along with this is the potential cost in training although there are some good resources available. The investigation included a look at the potential learning curve to a .NET C# developer with understanding of MVC and would rate this as an Easy Learning Experience There could also be a requirement for a physical iPhone device for testing purposes Windows MobileDevelopment
Environment: Visual StudioDevelop on a Device Emulator Develop using .NET Compact Framework 2.0 SP 1 For further details see Appendix B CostsThese assumptions made here is for the setup cost for an environment for a developer to develop Windows Mobile applications within the ICTS Solution Delivery within its current operating environment.
The investigation included the setup of a Windows Mobile development environment along with the development of a simple windows mobile application. Due to the nature and experience of .NET this would be rated as an Easy Transition with no training requirements. At time of writing Microsoft has announced its Windows Mobile 7 platform along with its development using the Silverlight Platform. This looks like a significant change in direction for Microsoft in the mobile phone market. Case StudyMIT Mobile WebSolution Overview
Features Overview
Systems Architecture
Source MIT – Building the Mobile Web System configurationHardware (Virtual Server):CPU: Intel Xeon 3GHz Memory allocation: 2 GB Storage: 15 GB VMWare
Software:Operating system: Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 Web server: Apache 2.0.52 PHP 5.2.5, MySQL 5.0.18, Python 2.4.4 Source MIT – Building the Mobile Web Additional Information
Waikato ImplementationInitial Development
The complexity and the time taken to implement each of the services was dependant on the ability to:
Resourcing and scheduleThe initial development was not expected to go live so quickly. The duration was around 4-6 weeks utilising:
Current StateHave implemented 13 Services including:
This was difficult due to the Service Provider. Had to hard code, scrape web pages and manipulate data for timetable information. This is easy if the Bus Service provider uses the Google Transit API.
This took the Longest. Although it was easier than it can be as the existing site maps were true to scale.
Easy as the traditional web already used a feed from LDAP
Easy as the traditional web already had feeds
This has been the most popular and useful item for students See http://m.waikato.ac.nz/home/ Support
Security
Student Data
Future State
AnalysisNote Survey Results and Analysis to be completed – The following proposal could be subject to change. OptionsSMS Text Services
Mobile Web Portal
Native Smart Apps
ConsiderationsSMS Text Services
Mobile Devices in general
Mobile Web Portal
Native Smart Apps
ProposalIn making this proposal the author has used the considerations above and taken the following approach:
The proposal is to take the following initiatives: Implement an SMS Text Service.Establish an SMS Text Service which would be available and beneficial to all Students and Staff even with the most basic Mobile Device by:
Added Value
Catch up and leverage off existing MIT framework.Establish a Wireless Portal by implementing the quick wins from the MIT Mobile Web and get a mobile presence and portal in place by:
Added Value
Re-Architect existing services.Implement new services using a Services Oriented Architecture over all these initiatives and in line and other ICTS initiatives. Develop and re-write the Services that are used for this and for future initiatives by:
Added Value
Develop all new components for browser capability, not hardware categoryGive the widest audience over multiple browsers and devices. Create and add new components for the Wireless Portal by:
Added Value
Provide the best user experience.Target the latest browsers and standards of today and the future. Develop components that will present the University of Canterbury as a Leader by:
Added Value
Note - Native ApplicationsThe consideration for developing native applications for the most popular devices was not seen as being of significant benefit to providing the services which would also be attainable through a Mobile Portal. However, the ability to provide applications for research purposes, including disconnected applications, applications utilising specific device capabilities and the potential to sell applications to a large market of users should definitely still be considered on a case by case basis. If there is any potential in this area, this investigation has provided a level detail of development environments, options and capabilities. In addition to this, by implementing the proposal as above, the resulting Service Orientated Architecture could be used as a base for the initiative to develop Native Applications on top of these services providing specific device capability using the MVC pattern. Appendix A – Survey and ResultsSurvey Results and Analysis to be completed Survey(Draft also available here http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FXWLLZS) 
Appendix B – Outputs, References and ResourcesSharePoint WikiA Wiki was used during this investigation to capture details of communications, student survey, brainstorming, research notes and references and details of Prototypes and Code Samples. http://ucbsstfs/Sites/UCMobile/UC%20Mobile/Investigation%20Feb%202010.aspx TFS Source ControlThe TFS Source Control folder “Investigation Feb 2010” includes:
SharePoint Document Site
TFS Work Items
Waikato ReferencesAcknowledgements to Steve Leichtweis Waikato University lets students’ fingers do the walking Mobile web environment lets students view info, maps and timetables from their mobile phones. http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/F706A061A2C1CD25CC2576A4007F36FE iPhone Apps boom creates opportunities for WaikatoLink http://www.waikato.ac.nz/news/archive.shtml?article=985 Online network keeps students in check http://tvnz.co.nz/technology-news/online-network-keeps-students-in-check-3327193 Mobile Software for Waikato Students - Stuff http://www.stuff.co.nz/technology/digital-living/3209359/Mobile-software-for-Waikato-students Waikato Mobile site About http://m.waikato.ac.nz/about/ Waikato Link http://www.waikato.ac.nz/news/archive.shtml?article=985 MIT ReferencesAcknowledgements to Andrew Yu MIT Web Mobile Platform Download http://sourceforge.net/projects/mitmobileweb/files/mit-mobile-web-2.0.0.tgz/download MIT iPhone Native Application http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/mit-mobile/id353590319 MIT Mobile Web Portal http://m.mit.edu/about/ PHP on Windows 2008 and IIS 7 http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver/compare/php-on-windows/ 
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