OTN ADF Mobile Workshop @ Oracle Offices in Singapore

From marketing perspective this workshop gave a pretty good overview for what Oracle is doing in regards to concurring mobile platforms with Java. From technical perspective, the exercises we've done there were rather simple and could've been better ones - it would be more fun to build something with database connections and more sophisticated browsing.

Anyway, this is what was discussed about Oracle JDeveloper and its ADF Mobile Extension (ADF stands for Application Development Framework):

SOME MARKETING STUFF:

1. ADF Mobile components have sufficient number of widgets to build a decent application for iOS and Android from single code base.

2. Oracle implementation of mobile security seems to be the most shining component in the whole stack. Sorry, I can't say more than that because presentation of security features didn't really happen due to some technical issues.

3. Those who have experience working with Oracle ADF objects, could start doing things with Mobile ADF in no time at all.

4. Currently, Mobile ADF components can be used for generating application deployment packages only for iOS and Android. Windows 8 is not in the list. Not yet. Few years ago Oracle got ready for Windows 6 that had never come out! Now they want to wait and see if Windows 8 spills out of marketing campaigns and acquire some real popularity. If Windows 8 gets its market share, it would be relatively easy for Oracle, as they say, to accommodate it within their Mobile ADF.

5. GUI is done in Javascript, HTML5 and CSS3, so it's compatible with any current browser and mobile device. This is so called Hybrid Application when this kind of GUI works on top of a Java container that nicely communicates with whatever hardware is below. Platform-specific JVM is an old Java trick and in this case it's coupled with a widely used GUI technology.

SOME TECHNICAL STUFF:

1. Size of a final application ready to be deployed on a mobile OS would be around 10Mb+ because it includes headless Java Virtual Machine. JVM was cut off all GUI classes hence 'headless'. Basically, it's based on JavaME/JDK1.4 and has no Java5 features like collections and annotations.

2. Oracle mobile application would communicate with native OS and hardware resources (like email, camera, GPRS) via PhoneGap layer. Well, now it's PhoneGap but Oracle will switch it to Cordova because PhoneGap is owned by Adobe and there are some license related issues with that.

3. Mobile ADF Components are free only for developing prototypes. Any plans for using them within commercial products have to be discussed with Oracle sales people.

CONCERNS:

1. Every single mobile app built with Mobile ADF would come with its own JVM... Is that good? Or it doesn't matter? I'm not quite sure... Mobile operating systems are multi-threaded now. Some apps may run in the background tracking your location, popping up messages, making alerts. In a year time, an average phone might have, say, 25 apps constantly running in the background. Would it be good (size-wise, efficiency-wise) if some of them contain their own run-time environments? It's like to run few Eclipse IDEs at once on a desktop, isn't it?

2. Price is always the issue. Small businesses may not like it. Big businesses may stick to their existing development platforms, whatever they currently use.

ADVANTAGES:

Well, there are four actually:

1. Generation of hybrid-native deployment packages from a single code base. It does sound a bit scary, especially for those companies that already have separate iOS and Android development teams. Will that 'single code base' really work? Hmm... it's hard so say... but there is always an alternative - just start hiring Windows 8 team now.

2. Maybe it's true and Oracle mobile security solutions really stand out on the market (this needs to be confirmed...).

3. Millions of Java developers can apply their skills in mobile sector, and

4. The whole thing is backed by Oracle and it's not about to disappear from this market. What does that mean? Well, Cordova is open source - its future is not quite certain. PhoneGap belongs to a bit unpredictable Adobe - people still remember what they have done with Flex.


Probably it's time to check what ApplicationCraft is...

Who would provide Mobile Services for The Enterprise?

B.Y.O.D. is now an important part of an urban lifestyle description. Thanks to powerful mobile devices, online shopping (aka eCommerce) caught its second wind (look at Australia for example). Brick and mortal retail stores are getting obsolete, warehouses nearby large cities became hot properties. Rumors say that small businesses in Europe are happy to pay 2-5K Euros to teen developers for opening their own internet shops. Online payment services flourish. Clearly mobile networks are getting busier than ever (no refs to telcos income numbers). But what happens in the Enterprise?

Well, apparently biggest consumers of IT services, banks and telcos (no idea about military and aeronautics), don't have an access to their systems from mobile devices standardized yet. Yes, there are BlackBerries, iPhones and Androids with their connections to corporate Outlook Exchange servers, something that existed for quite awhile with no major upgrades. Now it looks even a bit ugly when people keep in their pockets two phones - one corporate BlackBerry and a personal 'iDroid'. How long is it going to stay this way? What do enterprise people need?

The Enterprise needs its own 'eCommerce' - synchronized data (mails, documents, etc - you name it), visual monitoring of various kinds that would help to replace every day email tsunamis, highly secure access to core functional services for those who are on-the-go or on-the-meeting. They need James Bond kind of things demonstrated in latest movies with Daniel Craig. The question is - who could deliver such services?

There are three major players in this space - Apple, Google and Microsoft. I'm not sure what's happening in China and Japan, they might have their own ones. There is also Samsung but I don't think that it could be listed here. Samsung is a good hardware producer but without its own OS and integration software it cannot compete with three from above.

To make a long story short, I would not go through what Apple and Google already have and what they may offer for this in near future. I think that Microsoft has all the chances to be a favorite again. Why? Because:

1. The Enterprise uses Windows desktops and it will continue to do that.

2. Windows Server is slowly becoming a standard platform for back-end processing. Yes, Microsoft dropped the ball at the server-side space and couldn't pick it up for a decade or so. That's probably why Linux became so popular. But Microsoft learnt its lesson - look at Windows Server 2012, check what and how it does. It is not that bad at all. I worked with Linux since late 90s and last two years spent using both Linux and Windows Servers, I don't really see any advantages of using one over the other except for the license cost and security.

3. Microsoft has its own mobile touch screen. Yes, iPad looks great, I completely agree with that, I love Apple devices and use them everywhere except my work. As the matter of fact, Apple taught people to use touch screens, all generations apparently. Now Microsoft made similar device but practically better - it comes with a keyboard. It doesn't look that sexy yet, just give it a time.

4. Microsoft has its own mobile OS. Well, it's comparatively new and hasn't become popular yet. But people will get used to it. The Enterprise will do its thinking and allocate the budget...

5. Microsoft has its own Cloud.

6. And it has Windows Intune to manage all listed above.

It seems that Microsoft has a complete technology stack to make 'James Bond' real in a company even if its employees travel 100% of their time. And the number of employees doesn't really matter.

I wonder if it's time to buy Nokia shares, their price is amazingly low at the moment... Is anyone up for a Jim Rogers kind of investment?