Thanks to the iron grip telecommunications carriers have on wireless apps running over their networks, the mobile Web is widely regarded as a mess by technology analysts and critics. Indeed, cell
phones come with browsers designed to take users to specific Web sites-usually carrier-run portals or Web apps designed by their partners. In some cases, carriers even block access to competing sites.
But most consumers agree: The mobile Web experience should be the same regardless of the phone you have or the carrier you use.
New rules devised by the Federal Communications
Commission in an upcoming spectrum auction will change that-but it will take several years and billions to build-out new open networks. Even before that mandate, wireless wall are being broken down.
For example, several Web site-agnostic browsers like Opera's Mini are being developed for the mobile Web; the popularity of these services are forcing some carriers to open up Internet use for their
customers.
Certain carriers get it: T-Mobile's Ingo Schneider says the walled-garden approach "didn't work for AOL" and "it's not going to work in mobile either." T-Mobile
International already preloads the Opera Mini into 35 of its partner cell phones in nine European countries. By comparison, Apple's iPhone offers a similar browsing experience for American consumers,
thanks to the seamless integration of Apple software like Safari.
Read the whole story at The Wall Street Journal »