Over the past year, I have devoted several columns to talking about data services, rich Internet applications, Web 2.0 and widgets. Several of these strands have now come together, as Motorola has recently announced the availability of MOTODEV Studio for WebUI.

Currently in public preview, MOTODEV Studio for WebUI allows developers to create and deploy both lightweight widgets and sophisticated Web 2.0-style applications to future handsets based on Motorola's open MOTOMAGX platform.

As developers for the desktop have already discovered, widgets can play a key role in getting content to consumers, driving brand recognition and loyalty, and scoring quick wins for companies eager to stand out in a crowded marketplace.

Adopting these new Web assets isn't a trivial task. Mobile Web 2.0 is quickly growing in popularity, but fragmentation in the industry has posed an early barrier. Hardware manufacturers and Web-based companies alike have created their own proprietary interfaces, making it difficult to port and execute widgets across platforms and devices. This problem is likely to dissipate as efforts to create standards progress.

Motorola's WebUI application environment is based on WebKit, the popular open-source engine that powers the MOTOMAGX browser. WebKit is also used in Android, as well as other platforms such as those provided by Apple and Nokia. A large and well-established user base combined with an active development community makes WebKit a great foundation for Mobile Web development.

WebUI applications and widgets are easy to build using common Web technologies such as AJAX, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. But WebUI offers more, providing developers with an unprecedented set of APIs for integrating information from the Web with local handset services such as multimedia, location, or phonebook. This convergence of Web-based services and device-related APIs really unlocks the door for cool, innovative new applications that combine the power of the Internet with the personalization of an individual device.

WebUI's security and trust model has two tracks, allowing both signed and unsigned applications. Widgets, which do not use any of the trusted device services like location or phone book and thus do not require the trusted APIs, do not need to be signed or certified. Full-blown WebUI Applications do have access to these APIs, and need to be signed and certified to maintain security. WebUI Applications that don't use the trusted APIs don't need to be certified.

Once downloaded to a MOTOMAGX handset, widgets are added to a special Widget Library. Users can access the Widget Library from either the main menu or a home screen shortcut. The Widget Library may contain both active and inactive widgets; active widgets update their display with live data. With the Widget Library, users can manage their widgets, adding or removing, activating or deactivating, and rearranging widgets. When selected, a widget expands to a detailed view, which uses the device's full screen to display in-depth information.

But widgets and WebUI applications represent more than just another platform. Since WebUI is based on standard Web technologies, the time needed to create a useful application drops dramatically, from months to as little as a few hours, thus changing the economics of mobile application development. There may never be a better time for existing mobile application developers to capitalize on this trend of easy application development and deployment. And for today's Web developers wanting to enter the mobile application arena, this is an easy way to start - welcome aboard!

MOTODEV Studio for WebUI is free to MOTODEV members, and comes as a full-fledged developer package including an IDE, Emulator, SDK and associated documentation. MOTODEV Studio is built on the broadly used Eclipse™ open platform, which has integrated online help with developer guides, device specifications, and API documentation. Once you get started, be sure to check out the new MOTODEV Discussion Boards for direct support from MOTODEV topic experts and a chance to interact with your peers. And don't forget that MOTODEV Studio is available for Java ME, UIQ and Native Linux development as well.

With new developer opportunities available in the Web 2.0 market, and the wide appeal of the final, web-savvy products, the case makes itself. Now is the time to start building the Mobile Web 2.0 using the lessons learned from the classic wired Internet.

– Asokan Thiyagarajan, Motorola Technology Evangelist

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