Developing and designing an architecture for mobile applications presents developers with some interesting challenges. Typically software developers are used to developing applications that run on large powerful systems with the luxury of virtually unlimited memory and processing power. However, the limited resources, minimal input devices and smaller screens of mobile units is not all they will have to contend with, as the environment too presents some obstacles to be overcome.

Mobile networks currently offer far lower bandwidth, greater latency and less reliability than wired networks. This requires developers to be rather innovative when dealing with exception handling and memory management. If these complications are not enough, consider also that end user expectations are high as they have become used to the power, speed and intuitive interfaces of desktop systems.

In addition, consider the numerous different devices already in the hands of your user base and the countless versions of various operating systems installed. Now bear in mind the choices available for application development: WAP: J2ME; SIM Toolkit; WIG or WIB.

Selected Device challenges to consider:

• Smaller screens
  
• Monochrome output
  
• Minimal input devices
  
• Limited memory
  
• Reduced processing power
  
• Numerous devices available
  
• Varying operating systems
  
• Varying operating systems

Selected Network challenges to consider:

• Lack of reliability
  
• 3G vs EDGE vs GPRS vs GSM
  
• Message Latency
  
• Cost of “online” time
  
• Limited bandwidth (speed issues)
  
• Security