Welcome Our New Widget Overlords:
Can't remember where I got this from now, it was within Google Reader using the "Blog This!" button off one of my feeds
(probably Mobhappy)
" I like a good widget, and I've been waiting for them for my mobile. Looks like that's getting closer, with the new Opera Platform. Many of the headlines got hung up on how this will enable the current Web Development Buzzword AJAX on mobile; more perceptive people saw the widget angle. Opera Platform is significant because it represents a development environment for small, task-focus applications (ie widgets). While most of what will be done with it could probably be accomplished with a J2ME app (see Google Local Mobile), it's important to create a simpler, less intensive environment in which widgets can flourish (as Erik pointed out, sorta like Flash Lite). Check out the available Apple Dashboard widgets to see where this can go when development is made easy. Things like Opera Platform and Flash Lite are significant first steps. What would be even more impressive, though, would be to see a handset manufacturer adopt one of these tools and dumb it down even further to the point where people could easily create their own widgets. Not only would the number of applications greatly increase, people would have an opportunity to really customize their mobile devices to access the services and information they want, by letting them develop widgets themselves. More open development environments foster creativity -- and ultimately success."
