One Mobile Standard Will Have to Wait
Several mobile operators, including AT&T and T-Mobile, announced an open platform yesterday. Their promise is to make life easier by standardizing the mobile web experience. Currently an application written for one device will often need to be rewritten to work on another. Standardization would relieve developers of the burden of writing multiple versions.
The initiative, known as BONDI, is not the only mobile standards movement. The World Wide Web Consortium has a mobile group. Google’s Android is a platform being developed by the Open Handset Alliance (which includes at least three members of the BONDI group). Finally, while not as open a platform, Yahoo’s Blueprint is standards-focused.
The list above is incomplete. We undoubtedly missed several projects aimed at creating a mobile standard. As Jason Grigsby pointed out in his Mobile Tsunami presentation (about slide 24), the mobile web is the wild west. Desktop web developers have grown accustomed to standards and more-or-less compatible browsers. It’s easy to forget the mid-90s browser wars, which is where mobile is, according to Grigsby.
Many, including some ReadWriteWeb commenters are skeptical of BONDI. The skepticism is probably warranted, because it’s unlikely a true standard will be achieved very soon.
The phones that will be released in the coming years will offer many more features for mobile developers. We will be able to access the camera, GPS location data, and more. Each handset may have a different way to access these features, as manufacturers are unable to wait on standards before releasing new products. Wild-west-wary developers should relax and see this as a natural process that will help bring innovation.
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