Comments on: The mobile web will stay with us for a while http://thenextweb.com/2008/04/20/the-mobile-web-will-stay-with-us-for-a-while/ International technology news, business & culture Wed, 23 May 2012 03:22:58 +0200 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Berco http://thenextweb.com/2008/04/20/the-mobile-web-will-stay-with-us-for-a-while/#comment-362533 Berco Mon, 21 Apr 2008 07:27:40 +0000 http://thenextweb.org/2008/04/20/the-mobile-web-will-stay-with-us-for-a-while/#comment-362533 "As we are innovators, new media professionals like to skip this period because we already know how the new medium can fulfill its potential." Only a revolution can make you skip an era, but it takes a genius (not just a mere innovator) to cause a revolution. Maybe Steve Jobs fits the bill? :) I wholeheartedly agree with Beattie that there will be no separate mobile web. I've been using a windows mobile HSPA phone for quite a while and although I'm always online when I'm at home/work, I almost never browse the web using my phone. Although the speed is comparable to a fixed connection, the whole experience just sucks. Small screens, no full keyboard and the fact that you're 'mobile' (read: not sitting comfortably) makes that you will only reside to the mobile web when you REALLY have to. Even in those cases, I prefer to use my phone as a modem for my laptop... Having a mobile web won't change that. There are opportunities though, but they are not related to what we know as webbrowsing. The most interesting in my opinion is location based searching. I use Google Maps Mobile A LOT -- for directions, to know where I am, to find something in the neighborhood, etc. Most of the location based services infrastructure is still very coarse grained, and there is still 'plenty of room at the bottom'. If you're interested in the mobile internet (as opposed to the mobile web) you might wanna focus there. 2B “As we are innovators, new media professionals like to skip this period because we already know how the new medium can fulfill its potential.”

Only a revolution can make you skip an era, but it takes a genius (not just a mere innovator) to cause a revolution. Maybe Steve Jobs fits the bill? :)

I wholeheartedly agree with Beattie that there will be no separate mobile web. I’ve been using a windows mobile HSPA phone for quite a while and although I’m always online when I’m at home/work, I almost never browse the web using my phone. Although the speed is comparable to a fixed connection, the whole experience just sucks. Small screens, no full keyboard and the fact that you’re ‘mobile’ (read: not sitting comfortably) makes that you will only reside to the mobile web when you REALLY have to. Even in those cases, I prefer to use my phone as a modem for my laptop… Having a mobile web won’t change that.

There are opportunities though, but they are not related to what we know as webbrowsing. The most interesting in my opinion is location based searching. I use Google Maps Mobile A LOT — for directions, to know where I am, to find something in the neighborhood, etc. Most of the location based services infrastructure is still very coarse grained, and there is still ‘plenty of room at the bottom’. If you’re interested in the mobile internet (as opposed to the mobile web) you might wanna focus there.

2B

]]>