OK folks, we can get all excited about mobile Ajax. After all, there is a mobile Ajax FAQ now, right? That means it must be real.
Get real. For now, the only way to develop for Ajax is to develop for specific device types, possibly running on specific operators. We don't even have good cookies. Session states are not well stored. We've got major rendering issues, compatibility issues ... and don't just take my work for it. Mike Rowehl has a bit more development experience than I do.
I'd love to have all of the fancy features that Ajax enables. Of course, we'll have to overcome some limitations inherent to mobile:
- high latency connections (compared to landline) will introduce delays in interaction flow, so pre-fetching will be important where possible
- the single-window paradigm of most mobile devices means that delays in interaction are extremely noticable
- short battery life & processor speeds means that scripting should be used only where necessary
- different DOMs and BOMs mean that sites will have to be designed for specific browsers
- you have to get carrier buy-in for fancy stuff; they could block your IP address if users are having major problems with your site
- the application needs to somehow detect device state, and (typically) avoid fetching content when the screen is off but the browser is running. Exceptions of course exist.
In the meantime, I've been waiting for cookies and basic session tracking to work since 1998. They still don't. This is a higher priority problem.