  Opportunistic networking is one way to realize pervasive applications while
placing little demand on network infrastructure, especially for operating in
less well connected environments. In contrast to the ubiquitous network access
model inherent to many cloud-based applications, for which the web browser
forms the user front end, opportunistic applications require installing
software on mobile devices. Even though app stores (when accessible) offer
scalable distribution mechanisms for applications, a designer needs to support
multiple OS platforms and only some of those are suitable for opportunistic
operation to begin with. In this paper, we present a web browser-based
interaction framework that 1) allows users to interact with opportunistic
application content without installing the respective app and 2) even supports
users whose mobile OSes do not support opportunistic networking at all via
minimal stand-alone infrastructure. We describe our system and protocol design,
validate its operation using simulations, and report on our implementation
including support for six opportunistic applications.
