Creating Next Generation Applications and Services for Mobile Devices: Challenges and Opportunities

Next generation applications and services have to be user-centric, and therefore must satisfy users´ needs and improve users´ lives. These systems also have to be able to adapt to different contexts, foresee users´ intentions, provide recommendations accordingly and protect users´ privacy at the same time. In this paper we present our research on context-awareness applications, context-recognition techniques and privacy and trust. To demonstrate the feasibility and the progress in this area, we have developed a set of representative applications, two of which are presented in this paper. This perspective is the first glimpse of the forthcoming applications and services in the mobile domain. In the discussion, we summarize the many possibilities and describe the challenges for the research brought in by these new topics.