So it used to be an easy choice when developing mobile applications.   If you didn't have good enough network access to your backend systems or required offline access to data then Compact Framework or Native development was the way to go with the application running on the mobile device.

However now that ubiquitous anywhere you go wireless is becoming more of a reality the idea of putting apps.  out on the device seems less relevant.

However their are still a few gotcha's for delivering applications out via the mobile web browser.   Here are my top pain points for why the standard Windows mobile browser (PIE) falls a little short of being a perfect environment for building line of business applications.-

Barcode Readers RFID
No support - for getting input from devices such as Keyboard or RFID reader - I know there are workarounds like keyboard wedge technology but this is hardly generic.

Its still a bit slow - Not the browser but the network

Using a mobile web-browser for the majority of UK users means 2G GPRS.   This is certainly the case with ruggedised devices.   Although 3G/HSDPA are all available this is limited to large cities in my experience.   I know free WIFI hotspots are supposed to be on every corner, but this really isn't the case certainly in the Uk.

The Tools
Microsoft has had the Mobile Internet toolkit in its utility belt for a few years now.   Its now rolled into Visual studio 2005.   Although a great bit of kit that lets you build mobile web applications irrespective of the target devices screensize and capabilities it does look a little dated now.

URLs
Have you ever watched a non IT user typing a URL into a mobile phone/pda.  

A few bells and whistles
It would be great from the web-browser if we could upload video or camera phone images.   This seems like an obvious value add that is currently not part of the Windows mobile browser.   The ability to also pass easily co-ordinates from a GPS, or users phone number (both with user permission) over to a web-page would also be a very nice.

Passwords and security
Getting users to sign on to mobile LOB applications is a little painful.   A standard mechanism for PIN authentication in AD would be great.   Maybe this is already there, but I haven't found it yet.

Don't get me wrong,   I believe building browser based applications  are fantastic.   We have a case study up on Microsoft.Com where we built a mobile portal with an ROI payback of a week,  so I do believe the hype. 

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=53683

But it just would be great to make this really-great browser platform just a little better. 

What do you think?