Mobile Cloud Computing (MCC) is emerging as one of the most important branches of cloud computing. In this paper, MCC is defined as cloud computing extended by mobility, and a new ad-hoc infrastructure based on mobile devices. It provides mobile users with data storage and processing services on a cloud computing platform. Because mobile cloud computing is still in its infancy, we aim to clarify confusion that has arisen from different views. Existing works are reviewed, and an overview of recent advances in mobile cloud computing is provided. We investigate representative infrastructures of mobile cloud computing and analyze key components. Moreover, emerging MCC models and services are discussed, and challenging issues are identified that will need to be addressed in future work.