I think the quote is wishful thinking on Vodafone’s part. The W3C spec is pretty thin right now (it’s not even ratified!) and no operators we ‘ve spoken to have mandated W3C compliance as part of their widget RFQs.

Mark,

Indeed, everyone agrees on the word ‘widget’, but everyone uses different definitions for it In the definition of widgets as a user interaction paradigm, the Flash Cast channel would come quite close to a widget delivery channel. On the W3C topic; for portability and addressable market issues, operators are opting for web-based widgets environments (hence the W3C interest); if you can show widgets in browser you can use HTML to deliver a crude version on the default browser and more sophisticated WebKit derivates for richer versions. Flash Lite isn’t (yet) as ubiquitous as HTML browsers, at least not the FL installations which are exposed to third party developers.

Ben,

Agreed – in fact widgets face the same deployment issues as all other app environments. And Opera is very well placed among widget vendors, especially if it can extend widgets to Opera Mini.

Getting widget concepts and platforms rolled out is still a major challenge for the operators. Getting a standardised widget environment on enough phones from enough premium handset brands at the right price point remains a problem going forward.

I think this is one of the reasons Opera has been successful: their browser has already been integrated by the handset companies and so is not so much of a burden to use when the operators needs a platform/

I think there’s an issue with the word Widget, it feels like it was hijacked. Why are so many operators interested in a W3C spec for Widgets?

Eg. Why create a mobile spec when the market is established elsewhere? It’s called “New Business”

In the context of Flash Cast we use the term “channel”. While Flash Cast is not a strategic priority we do have three large supported deployments at NTT DoCoMo, Verizon and Chungwa Telecom. In the case of NTT DoCoMo there were over 15 million subscribers as of Jan 08.
http://www.nttdocomo.com/pr/2008/001380.html

As with Windows Mobile 6.5 and S60 Web RunTime you’ll notice that these allow widget packages to appear as first class citizens. So I believe that ongoing there will be no distinction between native applications and others including Flash and AIR.

Incidentally Flash runs within the WM6.5 and S60 Widget container, or outside it and sometimes in the browser

Mark
http://www.flashmobileblog.com

Erik de Kroon, Vodafone:”W3C is the only widget platform that will survive – if universal commitment can be achieved in the industry this would address some of the fragmentation issue.”

If you look at mobile widgets as a mere UI interaction paradigm, then they make a lot of sense in mobile – in fact more so than a PC/Mac. They are ideally suited for delivering service status on a mobile device. Re: monetisation, most widgets will be indirectly monetised, i.e. in the form of aiding service discovery and leasing shelf space to service providers.

George,

Thanks. Indeed, at a platform level, Android widgets are another mobile widget solution, although closer to being a discovery mechanism for the Android Market than separate solution.

Jean-Philippe,

Thanks about the note on WidSets pre-installs. I wasn’t aware of that and it didn’t come up during the Nokia interview. Re: Flash. Flash Cast is on its way out (ie it has been discontinued as a product), much like Flash Home. Thanks also for the FEWidgetsLite mention, I would class this next to Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and the Android Widgets that George mentioned as platform-only implementations.

Hi Simone,

You are right, the term ‘mobile widgets’ means different things to different people. Here we ‘ve defined them as ’single-purpose, windowed, mini-applications’.

In practice, widgets are just a new user interaction paradigm and a new service delivery paradigm.

In technology terms, they are only a UI paradigm on top of an existing application environment (Flash, Java, S60, WRT, etc).

In solution provider terms ‘full’ mobile widget solutions comprise of an application environment, a client app implementing the widget user interaction paradigm, and some infrastructure for managing the lifecycle etc.

And I agree on your observation, that web development paradigm (what developers call widget development) is becoming a de facto alternative for Java-based programming, esp. for the broad audience of hobbyist developers, scripters, web programmers, etc.

Andreas

Mobile widgets have a chance to become somehow important just in case more and more vendors align to W3C standards (that is what I consider a “real” mobile widget platform) like are partially doing Nokia (with WRT) and Opera.
In case OMTP initiatives BONDI and BONDI2 will be success initiatives this can help a lot.

What can drive widgets a key technology is the “cost” factor- And have less fragmentation is crucial.

I still believe that we are going toward a platform by platform runtime technology choice so, with Java being gradually discouraged by leaders, widgets are the only solution to lessen the development costs for supporting 5 or 6 leading platforms that will remain the market (Symbian, android, Wmob, Brew, Mac OSX, RIM and, maybe, webOs and Limo somehow).

JM2C, http://meedabyte.wordpress.com/

Just few comments and thoughs,
- Nokia Widset as been pre-installed in few phones since Q4 2007, mainly Series 40 (see Nokia 8800 Arte, nokia 7310 Supernova, E61i and more…i could consolidated the list) all very “trendy” or vertical market centered.

- From Flash based technology, some point: what about Mobile Connect/Flash Cast ? very widget L&F ..no ?

other ongoing work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sZhDcJBmbU

- Going further, new players want widget’s pie part: Samsung touchWiz UI enable widget, Operator projects (Orange Djinngo,…), Netvibes UWA technology …, Vodaphone dedicated Widget store ..

Hum, lot of work to understand, ..
If Yahoo read this post, coul be good to drop a line about Go widget penetration …

The reason they work on desktops is the large screen real estate. On mobile a widget takes up the same size as an application.

Home screen widgets are a little more interesting in terms of displaying content that’s available at a mere glance, but monetizing it is close to impossible.