The Sorry State Of The Mobile Web
New York Times, Monday, November 26, 2007 11:15 AM
Small gains have been made recently, but the mobile Web still has a long, long way to go, says The New York Times' Michael Fitzgerald. Apple's iPhone is encouraging, and so is Google's Open Handset Alliance--which allows developers to make programs for Google's operating software, Android--but for the most part, companies are offering mobile services that people just don't use. According to Fitzgerald, "disaster" is "lurking like your next dropped call."
Ominously, the 3G network, a high-speed cellular data network, was recently branded "a failure" at a recent mobile industry conference. That's bad news, since 3G represents a collective and costly effort to bring high-speed Internet to cell phones. Why is it a failure? Rethink Research analyst Caroline Gabriel says that data (or mobile Web usage) would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007--far below the expected 50 percent. The Yankee Group, another tech industry research firm, concurs, saying that just 13 percent of cell phone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month. Meanwhile, 70 percent of PC owners use the Internet every day.
"The user experience has been a disaster," says Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto area technology VC. For one thing, the mobile Web is hard to use on many phones--simply finding a place to type in a Web address can be difficult. The content also doesn't look very good. But innovations are coming: Google's Android is on the horizon and similar open initiatives may spell the end of control over the mobile Web by the carriers. The only question is, when?
Read the whole story at New York Times »
Ominously, the 3G network, a high-speed cellular data network, was recently branded "a failure" at a recent mobile industry conference. That's bad news, since 3G represents a collective and costly effort to bring high-speed Internet to cell phones. Why is it a failure? Rethink Research analyst Caroline Gabriel says that data (or mobile Web usage) would make up only 12 percent of average revenue per user in 2007--far below the expected 50 percent. The Yankee Group, another tech industry research firm, concurs, saying that just 13 percent of cell phone users in North America use their phones to surf the Web more than once a month. Meanwhile, 70 percent of PC owners use the Internet every day.
"The user experience has been a disaster," says Tony Davis, managing partner of Brightspark, a Toronto area technology VC. For one thing, the mobile Web is hard to use on many phones--simply finding a place to type in a Web address can be difficult. The content also doesn't look very good. But innovations are coming: Google's Android is on the horizon and similar open initiatives may spell the end of control over the mobile Web by the carriers. The only question is, when?
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