Companies wanting to leverage the power of their smart devices are opting for downloadable mobile applications. Thick Clients, with their high usage, brand appeal, and on screen presence often result in greater deployment of content and services offered by providers, which in turn leads to higher revenues and profits. This article emphasizes on “flexible and customizable” nature of the mobile architecture for Thick clients.

1. The Smartphone for Thick Client<br />With mobile phones proliferating rapidly, a major need has arisen for information resources, services and applications that are suited to this immensely popular platform. At the same time, organizations are also making choices regarding what they want to provide their mobile workforce—mobile Web applications or mobile applications on their devices. This choice is a matter of need, where companies requiring content and not the user experience are going for mobile Websites, and the ones wanting to leverage the power of their smart devices, are opting for downloadable mobile applications.<br />The hunt for robust mobile solutions architecture<br />No matter what they decide to do, most organizations will require a robust mobile solutions architecture that helps them optimally use the mobile platform and overcome its challenges such as limited resources, short battery life, small screen size, slow data networks, and huge variety of heterogeneous phones that need to be supported. <br />When designing mobile solutions, developers typically go for two approaches—Thick Client or Thin Client, which differ in terms of their usability, responsiveness, and security features. <br />Mobile solution architecture is divided into four key components including the core program, business logic, presentation logic, and data access logic. Of these, business logic and presentation logic can reside either on the client or server. Depending on where these components reside, there are two kinds of clients—the Thin Client and the Thick Client. <br />In the case of the Thin Client, only the core program, usually a WAP browser, resides on the client (Mobile Phone). The presentation logic, business logic, and the data access logic reside on the server side. Thick Clients, on the other hand, are full-featured computer programs that are connected to the server but are fully functional without the network or connection to the server. The business logic and the presentation logic are present in the client itself. Although all the processing, user interaction, and data validation is undertaken on the client side, the Thick Client connects to the server for data synchronization or to check for updates.<br />Thin Clients like WAP browsers which are already installed on mobile phones are designed for generic users, generic tasks, and minimum hardware resources. Thick clients meanwhile are designed and developed after detailed analysis of the users, tasks, peripherals and physical and social environments. They are built to achieve the high degree of effectiveness, efficiency, and user satisfaction with revenue and profits on top of the agenda. <br />In terms of responsiveness too, Thick Clients have an edge. While Thin Clients have the presentation and business logic on the server and have to communicate almost all the time with the server to respond to user inputs, Thick Clients have presentation and business logic built into them, which makes users feel like the mobile applications are reacting instantaneously to their inputs. Limited bandwidth, high-round trip delays, signal fluctuation and network availability also adversely impact the responsiveness of Thin Clients. <br />Another advantage with Thick Clients is that they can allow the use of applications even in the absence of network connectivity. Thin Clients, however, since they rely heavily on communication with the application server, cannot make the services and content available in the absence of network connectivity. <br />As far as security is concerned, a Thick Client can extend a high degree of data security and offer the user the flexibility to choose encryption/decryption techniques, secure only the sensitive data and send the rest of the data unencrypted, thus saving computing resources and preserving the battery. This flexibility is absent with the Thin Client, which supports connection based security protocols including HTTPS, where the entire communication channel is secure and protects everything that goes through it. <br />In terms of mass appeal too, it is the Thick Client that is the winner. The poor usability of the Thin Client and its unimpressive user experience, make it an unlikely choice for creating mass appeal. The high usability, offline use and rich user experience are the big differentiators of the Thick Client that add to its mass appeal and popularity among service providers and content creators.<br />The other good news about the Thick Client is that it is more customizable than the Thin Client. In an environment where technology, phones, features and user demands are altering in real time, the “flexible and customizable” nature of the mobile architecture becomes important. The adaptable nature of the Thick Client allows users to modify it to accommodate hardware changes, new client preferences and business needs. <br />At the end of the day it is becoming clear that Thick Clients offers a range of benefits such as higher usability, quick response time, the ability to work in the offline-mode and strong and flexible security options that make them a better choice than Thin Clients. <br />Thick Clients, with their high usage, brand appeal, and on screen presence often result in greater deployment of content and services offered by providers, which in turn leads to higher revenues and profits. The use of the Thick Client architecture improves the productivity of the mobile workforce, and helps service and content providers to enhance their global competitiveness.<br />About ImpetusImpetus Technologies offers Product Engineering and Technology R&D services for software product development. With ongoing investments in research and application of emerging technology areas, innovative business models, and an agile approach, we partner with our client base comprising large scale ISVs and technology innovators to deliver cutting-edge software products. Our expertise spans the domains of Data Analytics, Large Data Management, SaaS, Cloud Computing, Mobility Solutions, Testing, Performance Engineering, and Social Media among others.Impetus Technologies Inc.5300 Stevens Creek Boulevard, Suite 450, San Jose, CA 95129, USATel: 408.252.7111 | Email: inquiry@impetus.com Regional Development Centers - INDIA: • New Delhi • Indore • Hyderabad To know more visit: http://www.impetus.com DisclaimersThe information contained in this document is the proprietary and exclusive property of Impetus Technologies Inc. except as otherwise indicated. No part of this document, in whole or in part, may be reproduced, stored, transmitted, or used for design purposes without the prior written permission of Impetus Technologies Inc.The information contained in this document is subject to change without notice.<br />