How the cloud will transform mobile apps

Outside of a potential list of legal access, security and data backup issues, the main problem with this approach is that cloud-based apps stop working when the network connection is lost, Beccue said. New programming languages, such as HTML 5, can overcome this through data caching, but this still is in its infancy as well. When cloud computing does become more common, apps will become much more sophisticated, Beccue added, illustrating the following examples: “Business users will benefit from collaboration and data sharing apps; personal users will gain from remote access apps, allowing them to monitor home security systems, PCs or DVRs, and from social networking mashups that let them share photos and video or incorporate their phone address books and calendars.”

As Beccue pointed out in the study, Apple was responsible for kick-starting the app store trend, but it also is the most likely to resist this model. It is perhaps the one company that doesn’t really need to compete for developers, nor make its approval process any easier. With more than one billion apps achieved within one year, it’s not likely feeling the pressure to give up the amount of control cloud computing would demand. For the rest of the market, however — especially wireless operators, for which the cloud can up transport revenues — cloud computing should, and likely will, be embraced.

E-mail me at sreedy@telephonyonline.com.