I think both of you hit on a similar point. I think it used to be a lot about “run anywhere with the same code” but didn’t really focus on whether that was a good solution or not.

The idea of contextual applications isn’t about taking the exact same application and creating different “views” of it for different screens, it’s about creating (in some cases) entirely new applications for those specific devices.

It’s ideal if you’ve got a toolchain and a workflow that let you reuse code and easily create those applications, but you shouldn’t feel limited by trying to take an existing application and just changing the UI a bit for each size screen.

=Ryan

That is not exactly what your describing but their are similarities. You want the app to change based on the device it is running on; while providing a consistent cross-device interface.

It’s a good goal, although not easily achievable with tools today. It sounds like the Flex Mobile / Slider is going to offer one solution, except not even that is complete as it leaves out the desktop.