The mouse was the original idea of Doug Engelbart who was the head of the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) at Stanford Research Institute. Engelbart's philosophy is best embodied, in my opinion, in the design of another device that he invented, the five-finger keyboard - with keys like a piano, used by one hand. The problem was, Engelbart's five-finger keyboard and mouse combination was very difficult to learn.

Google and Apple's publicized emergence onto the scene of the mobile industry is the latest consequence of the mobile phone becoming a best-selling device and a driver of growth in the telecom industry. All the big PC and Internet players want a piece of the pie, and IT industry pundits announce that finally the mobile phone will become mini-PCs. But in fact, it is more likely that the PC and Internet players will have to adapt their thinking and practices in order for them to compete in the mobile phone industry. This article explores the reasons why.

They're termed 'early adopters.' They're the early birds who snap up the latest wireless devices like Apple's breakthrough iPhone. These high-tech consumer electronics' enthusiasts are critical to a new product's success because their opinions can often make or break a new product based on their satisfaction with its reliability and its ability to live up to its claims. If you make and market these gadgets, you must ensure they don't fly the coop - and if they do, that they leave content.

Welcome to the second part of this 3-part article. Much has happened since I wrote the first part: for instance, I am now a member of the Web 2.0 Workgroup and I will be speaking at SYS-CON's SOA Web Services Conference & Expo 2006 in New York City in June. Many thanks for all your feedback to the first article.

Recently, Opera announced the availability of AJAX on mobile devices through their browser. Considering the popularity of Opera in the browser market (especially in the mobile browser market), this announcement is indeed very significant. Having been involved in creating mobile services for a few years now, Ajit Jaokar believes AJAX will replace both Java ME and XHTML as the platform of choice for developing mobile applications.

Publishers operating in the mobile world are facing an uphill battle in maintaining control in an increasingly fragmented and segmented market. As market demands continue to escalate, today's developers and/or publishers cannot survive competitively without a thorough working knowledge of the devices proliferating in the mobile market.

Introducing an intriguing mobile version of a combination of, Ajit Jaokar continues his insightful contributions to the fast-emerging new 'Mobile Web 2.0' category of ideas and applications.

The convergence of wireless communication technologies and the miniaturization of electronics have together created a great technological opportunity for enterprises to extend their boundaries out of their office buildings. In this article the author presents a simplified mathematical model for making quick ROI computations in the Enterprise Mobility Space.

The search for 'the next ringtones' has another contender, and this time everything seems to add up. Question: Name a service that launched with only a handful of compatible handsets, provided AM-radio sound quality, was barely marketed, but still managed to become a multibillion-dollar industry in three years.

Wireless is taking off in a big way, but some surprises await us. How do you predict the seven biggest surprises about to hit the wireless industry? I spoke with two well-connected 'ringers' who have a keen sense of the industry. I absorbed their combined input and pooled seven responses.

Just as SMS was spawned, there's a new craze that's spreading across parts of Europe. Reportedly, it's more prominent in the UK, but popular elsewhere too. Bluejacking, as you may have guessed, involves the Bluetooth standard to send anonymous messages to other Bluetooth-capable handsets with security disabled.

Here's how the imminent emergence of MMS will enable operators to make the right platform choice. The potential for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) is significant - with industry experts estimating a multibillion dollar market.

Recent power outages have shown the importance of local backup, but is it really that simple? If you're responsible for operations at your remote cell sites, you must address a number of issues before you even think about making a decision.

Towers everywhere, but who owns them and how? We take a look into the world of the REIT. It's not just the network and phone manufacturers who are making it big with wireless.

Vendor-lock is a term circling the wireless LAN (WLAN) sector. A number of startups have begun releasing new network devices - WLAN switches, which promise to make wireless LANs manageable, secure, and reliable.

LBS is a complicated technology. Take a look at the ins and outs, from locating a wireless user, to the importance of overlaying this information with local street and landmark data, to the actual point where a person's location shows up on a computer screen with directions.

E-mail is logged and monitored by most companies, but with instant messaging on the rise, who is taking responsibility? Over the last few years, I have helped companies and school districts improve productivity, reduce liability, and preserve network resources with tools to manage and monitor Internet usage.

Modern users expect to be able to use their mobile wherever they are, but it's not always that easy to roam. Over the past two years, major CDMA carriers in North America and Asia have rolled out packet data services based on the CDMA2000 1xRTT standard.

Two of the largest law-enforcement agencies in the country are pioneering innovative mobility solutions to increase productivity and revenue. Many more applications are on the horizon. Last year, the City of New York lost millions of dollars in uncollected parking violations because of problems with the tickets, such as mistakes or illegible handwriting.

Mixing creative collaboration with technical ingenuity, the World's Smallest Film Festival is finding innovative ways to encourage the development of mobile content.

A switch is normally a hard thing, on or off, but today's switches are increasingly taking a soft approach. Wireless penetration, already strong with more than 1.2 billion subscribers, is expected to increase 61% to 1.7 billion subscribers by 2006, according to Motorola research.

CRM is only as useful as the information gathered, and where better to gather it than at the point of contact? The goals of CRM, for most organizations, have been threefold:

Industry players Wavecom and Intel have successfully entered the cellphone market with solutions-based, all-in-one chipset modules. These modules are waltzing OEMs over the line into the world of cellular phones.

This final quarter of 2003 brought us many wonderful things in the world of wireless, best of all, in the U.S., common short codes (CSCs). CSCs bring the U.S. a common addressing system.

The gold rush for mobile content is far from over. Ten percent of Europe's SMS traffic now comes from value-added services and content such as ringtones, quizzes, and mobile chat.

Last October I had the privilege of conducting an interview alongside Howard Rheingold, the renowned technology commentator and author of Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, for a national public radio show entitled 'Cities and the Wireless Revolution.'

With investment budgets under intense pressure, the focus is firmly on productivity improvements to gain rapid return on investment (ROI). In addition, competitive pressures are making customer service and customer retention priorities.

The mobile enterprise application development market is continuously evolving. A short time ago, developers were focused on building wireless Internet applications using technologies such as WAP.

One of the aims of 3G mobile communications systems is to provide enhanced multimedia services, like video streaming and MMS, to the user. The global economic slowdown has forced most of the mobile wireless carriers to delay deployment of costly 3G-network infrastructure, and optimize the existing digital infrastructure to initiate promising multimedia services.

Now that Graffiti has been replaced on Palm devices, users are exploring a wide range of textentry methods. What's the best solution for you?

A school in California has used an innovative wireless solution to ease parents' minds when their children are off on class trips. Christ Lutheran School, in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, is part of a Southern California institution that has been in existence for more than 75 years.

RFID is a simple, low-cost solution that allows tracking from factory to warehouse to store shelf, and even to the consumer's credit card. In addition to replacing traditional barcode technology, the uses of RFID tags are nearly endless.

3, the UK's 3G leader, has recently introduced a new member to the 3G-handset family ­ the Motorola A920. It's depicted as combining a videophone, games machine, MP3 player, and PDA-style organizer into one unit.

This article explains why the British government is interested in wireless technology and why this represents an opportunity for technology executives, investors, and entrepreneurs to innovate at the intersection of mobile, broadband, and Internet technologies.

A few weeks back, SYS-CON's group publisher, Jeremy Geelan, and I chatted about how mobile applications had the potential to influence our lives, but also about how many ideas never go anywhere ­ no value.

IM (instant messaging) for the enterprise is being touted as something new. Don't you believe it. I recall using ICQ Corporate at an ISP in Cleveland in 1998.

Phones are getting more complicated, but using them should remain as simple as ever ­ not an easy combination.

An important trend in the wireless sector that has for the most part gone unnoticed has been the emergence of a new class of mobile devices that can support multiple wireless air interfaces.

The good news is mobile data has gotten a foot in the door at the majority of the largest enterprises in the U.S. The challenge is to convert what are often initial and departmental assignments into large-scale, company-wide deployments.

Wireless operators around the globe are learning that success can bring its own problems. As operators develop and deploy an increasing number of wireless data applications, they are finding that developing and managing this growing number of applications is more complex than they initially expected.