Seybold's take: Smart devices, smarter software and applications

As you probably know by now, I am not a fan of browsers on wireless devices. Yes, the iPhone is better than most for browsing, but the process still leaves a lot to be desired. I favor software applications that go to the Internet and retrieve the information I want, when I want it, without having to invoke a browser. The good news is that we are beginning to see a lot more of these non-browser applications on the market. The bad news is that, as we see more and more app stores, the number of applications keeps increasing and it becomes more difficult to find the really good ones.

The latest report from the Apple App Store is that it now offers more than 2,500 applications, and many are very well designed and don't rely on a browser. Still others use applets, or widgets as some like to call them, to make surgical strikes into various Internet sites to provide us with the information we need. All of this is good news for consumers, device vendors and wireless network operators that want data usage to increase on their networks.

Many of these new-breed applications go to the Internet periodically and gather information. For example, WorldMate Live, which I use on my BlackBerry, keeps an eye on everything I need to know while I am on the road, including flights, hotel and meetings. It can keep track of my flight status in the background and reports any changes including times, gates and even baggage claim carousel numbers. It is not perfect and it does not recognize some of the smaller airlines, but it works well.

E*Trade's application is another I use a lot on my BlackBerry. I can either invoke it on an as-wanted basis or I can set it up to send me stock market and stock pricing alerts (something I have suspended in recent months because it is rather depressing, but I will want to go back to it as the markets recover). The E*Trade application is available for free from the E*Trade site even if you are not a customer, and you can select the stocks you want to scroll across your screen. If you are a customer, you can track your orders, stock sales and portfolio as well.

What these two applications have in common with each other and many other apps is that if you set them up to check your information too frequently, you can run your battery down pretty quickly. However, like most smart applications today, these apps pull information from the network, which makes smart applications smarter. Today's breed of smart applications knows what information you want and periodically wakes up your device to send a query out over the data channel to see if the information has changed. This works well and is certainly better than having to use a browser, but it will be even better when these types of applications work the way email does today-that is, when messages are pushed to you across the network only when the information changes.

Prior to the introduction of the BlackBerry in the late 1990s and well into the 2000s, many of RIM's competitors used pull technologies for email access. Pulling information works a lot better today than it did in the mid-to-late 1990s because our network coverage is much better than it was. All of the earlier networks provided pretty spotty coverage and many of the pull email programs of that era went through batteries trying to connect to the network even when the device was out of coverage.

Push technology solved many problems and battery life was one of them. An added bonus was the perception that network coverage was better than it really was. Customers didn't pay any attention to their Blackberrys until they were alerted they had received email. They could have been out of coverage for twenty minutes but were unaware of this because as soon as they came back into coverage, messages would start arriving. However, when trying to make a voice call, customers were acutely aware of when they were out of network coverage.

At some point, push will come to additional applications such as calendar and address entries. When it does, it will make already smart applications smarter and developers will take advantage of push to enhance their existing and new offerings. In the meantime, smart applications that use pull services are better than having to resort to a browser. When we get to push, the world of smart applications will get a lot bigger, and many more business and consumer customers will be turning on data plans to take advantage of the availability of information they want, when they want it, but only if it has been updated since the last time they received it. To me, that is what smart devices, smart applications and smart networks are all about.

Andrew Seybold is an authority on technology and trends shaping the world of wireless mobility. A respected analyst, consultant, commentator, author and active participant in industry trade organizations, his views have influenced strategies and shaped initiatives for telecom, mobile computing and wireless industry leaders worldwide. www.andrewseybold.com