August 29, 2006 4:00 AM PDT
The mobile Internet: Are we there yet?
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So how close are we to simple and robust Web surfing from a cell phone?
The answer depends on whom you ask. Some experts say the mobile Internet is already here. Millions of people throughout the world are accessing wireless application protocol, or WAP, Web sites--stripped-down sites specially designed for mobile handsets. But other experts argue that WAP sites are too limited. Some people say an entirely new domain name, called "dot-mobi," should be used for Web sites that are optimized for mobile surfing. Still others propose using intelligent browsers to turn traditional Web sites into something that can be viewed on a small handset.
"I think what people really want is to be able to access the same sites they access on their PCs, but from their phones," said Matt Hatton, a senior analyst with the Yankee Group based in the United Kingdom. "Once we can get the experience to look and feel more like the traditional Internet, more people will be willing to spend the money to pay for the services."
While there is still a lot of disagreement over how subscribers should be accessing mobile Web sites, there's almost complete agreement that when the mobile Internet finally hits mainstream adoption, it's going to be big.
The largest U.S. mobile carriers--Cingular Wireless, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless--are already seeing huge growth in data usage. Together they generated more than $6.3 billion in wireless data revenues for the first half of 2006, said Chetan Sharma, an independent mobile wireless consultant. Overall, wireless data service revenues, which also include several regional carriers, exceeded $7 billion in the first half of the year. Mobile carriers in the U.S. could generate more than $15 billion in data revenue for all of 2006. This is almost a 75 percent jump from 2005, when data services for the entire year accounted for $8.6 billion.
To date, most of the mobile data growth in the United States has been from consumer messaging services, like short-message service (SMS), and from enterprise data services. But unlike mobile Internet usage by wireless customers in Japan or South Korea, surfing the mobile Web in the U.S. hasn't yet caught on. In a survey conducted by Yankee Group in April, about 18 percent of wireless users in the U.S. said they had at least tried using the mobile Internet, but only 6 percent considered themselves regular mobile Internet users.
Experts say the biggest reason why users aren't using their cell phones to access the Web more often is that compared with the traditional Internet, today's mobile Internet is still fairly rudimentary when it comes to Web site quality and ease of navigation. Part of this experience is determined by the technology used by Web site developers and phone manufacturers providing access to sites. But it's also impacted by the fact that most users don't yet have access to faster 3G networks and affordable 3G handsets, which greatly improve quality.
"We're just waiting for all the pieces to come together," said Linda Barrabee, program manager for Wireless and Mobile at Yankee Group in the U.S. "I think once carriers improve the experience and solve the network and handset penetration issues, the services will become a lot more appealing to consumers."
Specialty services
New mobile virtual network operators, or MVNOs, such as Mobile ESPN and Helio, are trying to improve the mobile Internet and multimedia experience for consumers. Mobile ESPN is going after sports fanatics with a service that offers video clips, alerts and news that can be downloaded onto phones. And Helio is targeting young hipsters by offering high-end phones for accessing interactive games, high-quality videos and Web content. The company struck a special deal with the MySpace social-networking Web site, so users can read and write MySpace mail from their handsets, send bulletins, read and write blogs, view photos and profiles, and post photos to the MySpace space directly from their phones.
But because Mobile ESPN and Helio lease capacity from Sprint Nextel instead of owning their own networks, their services are dependent on the underlying speed of the network, which means that even though the handsets are capable of doing much more, downloading content or surfing Web pages could still take a long time. Early indications suggest Mobile ESPN and Helio are struggling to sign up customers.
See more CNET content tagged:
WAP,
wireless data service,
handset,
Sprint Nextel,
data service
More years of hype, and marketplace failure, to follow.:-)
In the article, they mention ESPN Mobile. While I was at the Sprint store, I saw the phone that they use, and was interested, until I saw the brochure. It contained so many options for the phone, along with $$, next to those options. Hey ESPN, how about a few different plans w/flat rates, insted of hitting the customer up for $$, for extra bells and whistles?
While at the Sprint store, I was intending to pick up an LG, that has the mp3 player. But that changed when I took a test surf of the Samsung A900. WOW!!!!! Now that's what I have been waiting for. 3G is now here. The A900 is a blade style phone (think Razor, but better), with lots of speed and features. The A900 is fast on the Internet, rich with color, sound, and space for apps (11Mb).
It holds about 47Mb worth of Mp3's, which I found kind of small at first. That is until I discovered that you can subscribe to Sirrus feeds (around $7), to receive 20 channels of digital music.
Each day was a new experience with the A900, learning about a new feature. When I ran over opera mini, that was icing on the cake. Now I can access regular sites, in a reformatted manner.
Yesterday, I downloaded and set up a java email client, so I can manage mail a lot better, than through the browser interface. WOW!!!!
You know, before I was upset that Sprint hadn't made a deal with Motorola, to use the Razor on it's network. Now I see why the Koreans are so happy with their handsets/services back home. Now when I see people with the Razor on Cingular's network (hint slow. not CDMA), I say to myself, they are busy trying to look cool talking on their phone, but all they are doing is chatter.
Cheers!!!!!
p.s. Did I mention that it also has a built in 1.3 Megapixel Camera w/flash.
p.s.s. If you think I am pulling your leg, visit your local Sprint store for a demo. This is not a shill.
Initiative (http://w3.org/mobile) which is supported by a
number of the companies referenced in your article. Among
other things, the Mobile Web Initiative has developed guidelines
(best practices) for content developers to make their content
mobile friendly and is in the process of developing a MobileOK
trustmark for mobile content.
Dan Appelquist
Technology Strategist, Vodafone Group
Chair, Mobile Web Best Practices working group, W3C
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2006/08/29/the-mobile-internet-are-we-there-
yet/
I am a professional mobile web developer and as such I have quite some experience of what is wrong and what works and what doesn't.
http://eugenia.blogsome.com/2006/08/29
The previous one got cut-out by the system.
P.S. I am with SoonR. You'll be amazed at what your WAP phone can do. The best is yet to come.
P.S. I am with SoonR. You'll be amazed at what your WAP phone can do. The best is yet to come.
Saves a ton on data transfer, as most plans here start at only 15MB/month including email which runs out fast with full-on web browsing from BlackBerry devices. The idea is that waiting for current web sites to 'mobilize' will take too long, easier to find a dynamic solution to the problem, at least in the interim. Site can be seen at bbsearch.info.
IOSTAR, SANDIA LABS, ORBITAL. The pioneers of GPS & Teledesic ? together with directors such as 4 Star General Tony McPeak & former secretary of US Air Force (Roche) and former Branch Chief of guided missiles & CEO of Western Digital ? are coming together for intriguing development called SWANsat.
Imagine a series of at least three geosynchronous orbital satellites providing wireless Internet access to the entire world. That?s exactly what a project called SWANsat or Super-Wide Area Network Satellite plans to do by the year 2011. They intend to be a global broadband Internet service provider that can facilitate up to 600 million connections per satellite. All you need is a handheld mobile device to connect to the system.
Read more: http://www.gizmocafe.com/blogs/gizmo_waydes_blog/archive/2006/08/21/96546.aspx
The Teledesic Chief Architect (now President of IOSTAR) recently made this presentation:
http://csmarts.colorado.edu/presentationpages/34_future_of_space/page_01.htm
(intro-nav page) http://csmarts.colorado.edu/presentationpages/34_future_of_space/Slide45.JPG
www.iostarcorp.com
www.swansat.com
One of the most important reason is the network charges over wireless data transfer. It's too expensive compared to broadband Internet access. All operators must reduce their GPRS - EDGE - UMTS charges.. If it can't be done due to costs then I guess there will be alternate ways like Super Wide Area Network in the future. (http://www.swansat.com/)
The second reason is the small screen on most mobile handsets. It's not ergonomic to browse a web site from a small screen phone, it's not healthy for eyes. You have to use a trans-coder and browser like Opera but this time real web experience is gone, most web sites are not designed for mobile use so it's very hard to navigate through hundreds of links and pages of txt to find what you are looking for..
It seems Wap and specifically designed mobile web sites is only solution for next 5-10 years maybe more so in order to fulfil customer experience more Wap sites and more quality services are needed. Recently there was a growth in new Wap services with .mobi domains and Wap 2.0 (xHTML) being more popular and available on more handsets, but it's still not enough. Most of those Wap sites are not interactive, you can only read forums, news, blogs but you can't participate in them, this is not a Wap user looking for!
Some other reasons are slow connection speed, slow Wap browsers etc..
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http://twilightwap.com
http://prodigits.co.uk
Network Solutions launched BuildMyMobi which is a tool that makes it easy for anyone to build a website that is accessible on cell phones. www.BuildMyMobi.com