Why Cloud Computing is the Future of Mobile

The term"cloud computing" is being bandied about a lot these days, mainly in thecontext of the "future of the web." But cloud computing's potentialdoesn't begin and end with the personal computer's transformation into athin client - the mobile platform is going to be heavily impacted bythis technology as well. At least that's the analysis being put forth byABI Research. Their recent report, Mobile Cloud Computing,theorizes that the cloud will soon become a disruptive force in themobile world, eventually becoming the dominant way in which mobileapplications operate.

You may be wondering: what does the term "mobile cloud computing"really mean? Basically, it refers to an infrastructure where both thedata storage and the data processing happen outside of the mobiledevice. Today, there are already some good examples of mobile cloudcomputing applications including mobile Gmail, Google Maps, and somenavigation apps. However, the majority of applications today still domost of the data storage and processing on the mobile devices themselvesand not in the cloud. In a few years, that could change.

Why Mobile Cloud Computing?

With a Western-centric view of the world, it can sometimes be hard toremember that not everyone owns a smartphone. There are still a largenumber of markets worldwide where the dominant phone is a feature phone.While it's true that smartphones will grow in percentage and featurephones will become more sophisticated in time, these lower-end phonesare not going away anytime soon. And it's their very existence whichwill help drive the mobile cloud computing trend.

Not only is there a broader audience using feature phones in theworld, there are also more web developers capable of building mobile webapplications than there are developers for any other type of mobiledevice. Those factors, combined with the fact that feature phonesthemselves are becoming more capable with smarter built-in web browsers(and more alternative browsers available for download), will have animpact on mobile cloud computing's growth.

How Will Mobile Cloud Computing Become a Disruptive Force?

Thereare two primary reasons why ABI believes cloud computing will become adisruptive force in the mobile world. The first is simply the number ofusers the technology has the power to reach: far more than the number ofsmartphone users alone. The second reason has to do with howapplications are distributed today. Currently, mobile applications aretied to a carrier. If you want an iPhone app, for example, you have tofirst have a relationship with the mobile operator who carries theiPhone. If you want a Blackberry app, the same rule applies. But withmobile clouding computing applications, as long as you have access tothe web, you have access to the mobile application.

Moves by PaaS Players Could Change Everything

When you think of Plaform-as-a-Service (PaaS), one of the first companies that springs to mind is probably Salesforce. With their Force.complatform, business applications can be built and run "in the cloud."But Salesforce is not the only major PaaS player out there today - Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Google's App Engine are also two platforms that could have a major impact on this trend.

Currently, AWS is used by over half a million developers and Google'sApp Engine hosts 45,000 applications. Now imagine if those twocompanies along with Force.com all of a sudden started aggressivelymarketing their mobile capabilities. Today, neither AWS nor Googleoffers this, and Salesforce's mobile offering is limited to smartphones(Windows Mobile, Blackberry, and iPhone). But if the companies decidedto make building for the mobile web as easy as building for the web, youcould have a mobile revolution on your hands.

But People Like Apps!

Sayingthat "mobile cloud computing" is the future doesn't mean phones will befilled with links to websites that work in any browser instead ofspecial, downloadable applications, some of which you can even purchase.Instead, mobile applications will exist in both formats. As for thedownloadable applications themselves, they will still appear to be yourtypical mobile app - end users won't even notice a difference. However,there will be a difference - it will just be on the back-end.Mobile applications will begin to store your data in the cloud asopposed to on the mobile device, and the applications will become morepowerful as processing power is also offloaded to the cloud.

The first mobile apps powered by the cloud will likely bebusiness-focused mobile productivity applications where collaboration,data sharing, multitasking, and scheduling are key factors. Forconsumers, though, navigation and mapping applications will be the mostobvious examples of the trend. Plus, there are some specialtyapplications today which already function as mobile cloud apps - forexample, Schlage offers aremote keyless entry system which lets you mobilely control your homefrom a distance. You can let someone into your house, manage yourlights, your thermostat, your camera system, etc. There are also a fewapplications in the iPhone app store that let you remotely manage your PC and your DVR, too.

Potential Problems

Of course, there are some potential issues that could be barriers tothis shift in mobile computing. The most notable problem is the lack ofspeedy mobile Internet access everywhere. Here in the US, for example,3G coverage is spotty outside urban areas, leading to intermittentconnection issues and slow speeds. Other markets may have it even worse.

However,new technologies like HTML5, which does local caching, could helpmobile cloud apps get past those sorts of issues. And there's even achance that the browser could one day be replaced - at least in somemarkets - with another technology altogether which provides a better wayto access the mobile web. ABI Research mentions initiatives like OMA's Smartcard Web Server, essentially a souped-up SIM card that connects directly with the carrier to push applications to mobile phones. There's also TokTok,a technology that allows access to web services like Gmail and GoogleCalendar by voice. With voice-enabled search like this, mobile appscould talk directly to the service itself which sits on the edge of thenetwork, as opposed to needing the user to launch a web browser andnavigate through the mobile web.

When Will Mobile Cloud Computing Really Take Off?

According to ABI, this change is only a few years away. By 2010,we'll see one or all of the major PaaS players marketing their mobilecapabilities, they say. But first, API standards from open-source mobilecollaboration group BONDI will go into effect. Later, in 2011, we'll see more of HTML5, and the OneAPIstandard will come into play. (OneAPI involves standardized apps fornetworks allowing developers to consistently access parts of networkproviders' capabilities, such as location services). All these factorscombined will help drive the move to the cloud.

The changes will occur with differing speeds depending on the market.Markets with higher Internet participation will obviously lead the way,as will markets with higher subscriber penetration. That includesWestern Europe, North America, and parts of Asia. Other markets willthen follow. By 2014, mobile cloud computing will become the predominantapplication development strategy. By that time, our PCs will be morelike thin client devices than they are today, and now it seems ourphones will too.