Abstract. This paper describes AbIMA, an agent-based intelligent mobile assistant for supporting users prior to and during the execution of their tasks. The agent is based on the well-known AgentSpeak(L) agent architecture and programming language, which provides explicit representations of agents’ beliefs, desires and intentions (BDI). AbIMA is implemented using Java 2 Mobile Edition and is tested on a hand-held computer. We also provide conceptual foundations and discuss various challenges relating to the use of cognitive agent architectures for intelligent mobile user support.