Mobile Channels

Windows CE users can access the World Wide Web using a Windows CE-based device, such as a Palm-size PC, with the underlying technology Mobile Channels. This Windows CE technology adopts and extends Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 (IE4) standards for offline Web browsing on a Windows CE-based device.

IE4 defines a channel standard for delivering information for offline Web browsing on a desktop computer. An IE4 channel is a self-describing Web site that contains all the information necessary for efficient download of Web content to a desktop computer. The Channel Definition Format (CDF) is a standard that contains meta information about a Web site and encapsulates the instructions to IE4 on how to download the site for offline browsing. IE4 defines three basic types of channels that all use the standard CDF technology or extensions to it: Active Channels, Desktop Components, and Software Distribution Channels.

The Mobile Channels technology introduces a fourth type of channel with its own extensions designed to offer offline browsing experiences to Windows CE users. A mobile channel is a Web site that conforms to the Mobile Channels CDF extensions.

Mobile Channels provides the following benefits:

The Mobile Channels technology embodies the following aspects: