Abstract

The advancements in computing have resulted in a boom of cheap, ubiquitous, connected mobile devices as well as seemingly unlimited, utility style, pay as one go computing resources, commonly referred to as cloud computing. It is desirable to have ubiquitous access to emails and information through mobile computing. More and more individuals are carrying smartphones and utilizing tablet PCs for business and personal use. The 2010 IBM Tech Trends survey predicted that cloud computing will overtake on-premise computing and mobile software application development will emerge as the most in-demand software application development through 2015. Accordingly, it is reasonable to predict that mobile cloud computing, the niche where these two areas merge, will also transpire as a dominant force in both the development and research arenas through 2015 with the convergence of smartphones, tablets, and cloud computing. This paper introduces and explores the convergence of mobile computing with cloud computing and cloudlets and discusses the challenges and growth prospects of this dynamic field.

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