Résumé
This paper is the result of the collective work done within the CNRS specific action Mobility/Data access with seven french laboratories IMAG-LSR, INT-Evry, LIP6, LORIA, PRiSM, EPFL, LIRMM . All pursuiving research in mobile computing and mobile databases. The action started in October 2001 for an initial period of one year. The activities and results of this action are available online at [AS_BDMobile]. The objective of this paper is to review the state of progress in mobile databases and identify major research directions. However, the research domain is so broad that we cannot pretend to be exhaustive. First, we propose a classification of mobile applications and a characterization of their execution environments. Then, we analyze the following issues: management of localization data, data access models, copy consistency and synchronization, management of embedded data, data confidentiality, and adaptability of software infrastructures to mobility and disconnection. For editorial reasons, this paper is published as a chronicle with two parts of equal importance.