Mobile Cloud Computing – An Emerging Trend

By Author: Shilpi C
Total Articles: 10
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Cloud computing is being considered as a convenient solution to data storage related worries of individuals and organizations. And the technology is slowly entering the world of mobile devices. It is expected that in less than four years, more than 1 trillion devices would be cloud-ready.

Cloud computing is one of the most talked about things in the tech arena these days. Also termed as the "future of the web", cloud computing is an infrastructure that enables data storage and processing to happen outside the device such as personal computer or laptop.

The mobile platform is also going to be impacted by cloud computing in the near future. It is predicted that cloud will emerge as a dominant way by which mobile applications will operate. Mobile Gmail, Google Maps are some of the examples of mobile computing apps.

Around 458 Million people are using smartphones today, which increases the chances of device owners getting adapted to the mobile cloud technology.

Mobile cloud computing will change the way we deal with application download and usage. Currently, an iPhone owner has to first establish a relationship ...
... with the operator providing iPhone services in order to get an iPhone app. The same rule applies to BlackBerry applications also. But, mobile cloud computing will make the entire app access process faster & easier for smartphone users. They will be able to access a mobile application simply by getting to the web.

If cloud computing becomes future of mobile app technology, it doesn't mean that smartphones will be flooded with links to websites compatible with all the browsers. The only difference would be in the format of mobile applications. The downloadable apps will still appear as the typical mobile app, which we presently see on our mobile phones. The difference would lie at the back-end. The data you will be entering to get access to mobile apps will be stored in the cloud instead of your mobile device. The application will run faster and get more powerful because it will be offloaded to the cloud.

There are certain issues that could become barriers to the path of mobile computing adoption. One of the major problems is the lack of speedy Internet connectivity in mobile devices. Mobile phone makers have introduced the smartphones with 4G connectivity in market but most of the places across the globe still lack in providing the required 3G coverage. If the Internet connection speed in mobile phones remains to be this slow, users would find it time consuming to fetch data from mobile cloud. Next is the security concern with mobile phone. It’s easier to lose a mobile phone. And in case you downloaded some sensitive data moment before losing the phone, the security will be major problem.

There are a few major and minor hurdles in the path of mobile cloud computing. Changes will occur in the market and users will adapt themselves to the technology, but it will demand for higher Internet participation. It is expected that the change will start from North American, Western European, and a few parts of Asian market and others will follow the trend.

Copper Mobile, Inc., engaged in enterprise application development, is one of the world's top mobile application development companies. Copper Mobile has created hundreds of successful and profitable apps since the launch of Apple's iPhone.