Mobile software is designed to run on handheld computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), enterprise digital assistants (EDAs), smartphones and cellphones. Since the first handheld computers of the 1980s, the popularity of these platforms has risen considerably. Many cellphone models of the late 2000s include the ability to run user-installed software.
See the article on Mobile development for lists of the differences between the various mobile software platforms, in chart format. A list of app stores and application download volumes per mobile platform can be found in the article list of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices.
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Java ME
The dominant mobile software platform is Java[citation needed] (in its incarnation as "Java Platform, Micro Edition", "Java ME", or formerly "J2ME" ). Java ME runs atop a Virtual Machine (called the KVM) which allows reasonable, but not complete, access to the functionality of the underlying phone. The JSR process serves to incrementally increase the functionality that can be made available to Java ME, while also providing Carriers and OEMs the ability to prevent access, or limit access to provisioned software.
BREW
In terms of use, Java ME is followed by BREW. BREW can provide complete control of the handset and access to all its functionality. However the power provided by native code with direct access to the handset APIs, has caused the BREW development process to be tailored largely towards recognized software vendors. While the BREW SDK (Software Development Kit) is freely available, running software on real mobile hardware (as opposed to the provided emulator) requires a digital signature which can only be generated with tools issued by a handful of parties, namely mobile content providers and Qualcomm themselves. Even then, the software will only work on test enabled devices. To be downloadable on regular phones the software must be checked, tested and given approval by Qualcomm via their TRUE BREW Testing program.
Other
Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Symbian OS and iPhone OS support typical application binaries as found on personal computers with code which executes in the native machine format of the processor (the ARM architecture is used on many current models). Windows Mobile also supports the Portable Executable (PE) format associated with the .NET Framework. Both Windows Mobile, Palm OS and iPhone OS offer free SDKs and Integrated Development Environments to developers. Machine language executables offer considerable performance advantages over Java.
Information relating to app stores for each platform can be found in the article list of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices.
See also
- Mobile development
- Mobile games
- MoSoSo
- BlackBerry
- Enterprise digital assistant
- Personal digital assistant
- Adobe Flash Lite
- Mobile computing
- list of digital distribution platforms for mobile devices
References
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This article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (August 2009) |
- Marshall McLuhan and Quentin (1967) "The Medium is the Message", Hardwired, San Francisco,pp.8-9,26-41,74-75
- Lelia Green (2001) , "Technoculture", Allen & Unwin, Crows nest,pp.1-20
External links
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