Accessibility:

Moving Mobiles Forward

AEGIS International Conference

Sevilla, ES October 2010

Greg Fields

Senior Accessibility Product Manager

Research In Motion

Session Contents

• Trends in Mobile

• Accessibility Issues

• Mobile Accessibility

• Moving Mobile Accessibility Forward

• Questions

Trends in Mobile

Mobile Phone Adoption

Adoption by Gender

Mobile Top 10

Handsets Sold (August ’10)

• Apple iPhone

• Motorola Droid

• BlackBerry Curve

• Samsung Freeform

• Samsung Messenger

• HTC Droid Incredible

• Sanyo Incognito

• BlackBerry Bold

• HTC MyTouch Magic

• Motorola Clutch

Manufacturers (August ’10)

• Apple

• Samsung

• Motorola

• RIM

• LG

• HTC

• Nokia

• Sony

• Sanyo

• Sony Ericsson

Mobile Phone Categories

Smartphone Platforms

Developer Platform Usage

Top 10 Usage Categories

1. Games

2. Social Networking

3. Music

4. Weather

5. News & Current Events

6. Sports

7. Entertainment

8. Shopping & Retail

9. Education & Employment

10.Home & Family

Mobile Internet Usage

Areas of Future Interest

Summary

• Everyone has a mobile

• No substantial gender inequity

• Mobile are used everyday

• Sales of smartphones outpaces other

mobiles

• 96% of smartphone platforms from 4

vendors

• There’s an app for everything

Accessibility Issues

General Access Issues

• Cost

• Availability

• Interoperability

• Complexity

• Awareness

• Sales & Support

Additional Access Issues

• Internet Accessibility

• Buying/Paying for Goods and Services

• Kiosk Accessibility

• Access to Content & Information

• Mainstream Awareness

• Physical Access

Summary

• Nothing new

• Obstacles, issues and “pain points” are

now applied to mobile

Mobile Accessibility

Required Infrastructure

• Embedded Platform Access

• Programmatic Platform Access

• Developer Tools

• 3rd Party Application Ecosystem

• 3rd Party Assistive Technology Ecosystem

Infrastructure in Mobile

Apple iPhone Motorola Droid BlackBerry Curve

Samsung Freeform

Samsung Messenger

HTC Droid Incredible

Sanyo Incognito

BlackBerry Bold

HTC MyTouch Motorola Cluth

Embedded Platform Access

Y Y Y N N Y N Y Y N

Programmatic Access

Y Y Y N N Y N Y Y N

Developer Tools

Y Y Y N Y Y N Y Y N

Apps Ecosystem

Y Y Y PARTIAL Y Y PARTIAL Y Y PARTIAL

AT Ecosystem Y Y Y N Y Y N Y Y N

Browser Access

• Desktop web access solutions coming to mobile phone browsers

- WAI ARIA

- HTML 5

- Alignment with platform Accessibility API

- Accessible Web UI libraries

• Found on all 4 top smartphone platforms

• Not found on Feature Phones

Summary

• All 4 smartphone platform vendor solutions

can support mobile access

• Cost, availability of access solutions differ

by smartphone platform

• Web UI library access lacking

• Feature phone lacking access

infrastructure

Moving Mobile

Accessibility Forward

1. Feature Phone Access

• Provide Embedded Platform Access (TTS,

Accessible UI libraries, ASR, etc.)

• Provide Programmatic Access

(Accessibility API, etc.)

• Provide Sample AT (Screen Reader, RTT)

• Provide Development Guide, sample app

source, etc to maximise learning

2. Smartphone Access

• Provide Embedded Platform Access (TTS,

ASR)

• Provide Accessible Web UI libraries

(JQuery Mobile, JQuery Touch, etc.)

• Provide Sample AT (Screen Reader, RTT,

AAC, etc.)

• Provide sample app source

Relation to AEGIS

• J2ME Accessibility Efforts - TTS,

Accessible UI libraries, Accessibility API,

Screen Reader, RTT application

• Smartphone Accessibility Efforts - TTS,

Screen Reader, RTT & AAC applications

Thank You

Your time is very much appreciated. Are there

any questions?

Greg Fields

accessibility@rim.com

Bibliography/Resources

• AQKA & DotMobile - Mobile Internet Usage and Attitudes Study, May

2008

• PriceWaterhouseCoopers Italian Telecom Study 2006

• ITU Telecommunications Adoption, 2009

• Millenial Media, Mobile Mix Research Index, July, August 2010

• Telecoms, IP Networks and Digital Media, Research and Markets Adds

Value, Germany Report, 2009

• Cellular News, Vodafone Quarterly Sales Report, 2009

• Network World, Worldwide Mobile Phone Adoption Report, 2009