Patent ID: 8209378

Claim:
A method, comprising: receiving a request from a processing device to send a widget to a handheld mobile device, the request being defined after at least a portion of a first instance of the widget has been processed at the processing device, the request being associated with a widget identifier; defining a first widget precursor at a widget-sharing server in response to the request from the processing device, the first widget precursor including the widget identifier and a placement identifier, the placement identifier being associated with placement of the widget at the handheld mobile device; sending, from the widget-sharing server, the first widget precursor to the handheld mobile device; receiving, at the widget-sharing server, a response to the first widget precursor from the handheld mobile device, the response including an indicator associated with at least one of a processing capability of a component at the handheld mobile device, a user preference, or metadata; defining, at the widget-sharing server and based on the response, a second widget precursor including a reference to the widget, the reference is configured such that a second instance of the widget is sent to the handheld mobile device in response to the reference being accessed at the handheld mobile device, the first instance of the widget having a different format than the second instance of the widget; and sending the second widget precursor from the widget-sharing server, to the handheld mobile device.