Kevin Rose Mobile Web The Future: I say forget .mobi, iPhone or phone projector
Filed under: Cell Phone Information, Cell Phones | By: Daniel
Posted on: November 28, 2007 | 16 Comments
Many of us know that the mobile web is the future with technology moving on at a fast rate, I have read many articles on the latest technology that gives amazing battery life, projectors, thin e-paper screens and more to mobile devices.
This tells us in an internet world that we will all want to be connected more on the move, viewing web pages on the go has not been that good over the last couple of years. The best device I have ever owned for making phone calls and viewing web pages is the Apple iPhone…its fantastic at it.
I read a post today on Mashable that quotes Kevin Rose (Digg founder) as saying that “mobile web is the next big thing”; I have to agree with the man that would have a very good idea of the future.
My opinion is the mobile web will be the normal web handled much better thanks to technologies such as better software (iPhone), phones will new technology such as phone projectors and e-paper so you can pull out screens that are paper thin.
The future in my opinion is not .mobi domains which are designed for mobiles; they are just copies of your same site. The hardware and software is and will become good enough to display web pages as they are (as long as they are designed correctly).
My iPhone lets me view web pages just fine right now; I can zoom in and see pages very clearly with no need for a .mobi domain. Phone projectors and e-ink displays will only improve things.
What are your views on the mobile web and its future?
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Well…I hate horizontal scrolling. I love sites especially designed for mobile phones…
Even though the Iphone has a larger screen than average phones…you still need to scroll horizontal. Or do you expect that the future phone will be laptop size ?
BTW: It’s not only the optical size that matters…ever thought about download speeds ? And so…not everybody in this world is living in broadband country…
Martin
@ Martin
Hi, I have to agree with you on the download speeds and people not having Wi-Fi or broadband in their country.
But for the broadband places of the world (9 out of 10 in UK and most of US), the future phones can have e-paper which is well on its way and projectors.
I have to correct you. .mobi is being used as a way to signify a mobile compliant site. It has little to do with past, current, or future technology as much as ensuring adaptation to whatever standard ensures a mobile user gets 100% satisfaction 100% of the time. Since any yokel with MS word can hack together a PC site .com gives absolutely ZERO confidence that the site owner has or has had the mobile user in mind when building it. You may twist in the wind for 5 minutes on your phone only to discover that the page, like this one, doesn’t load on a standard phone.
Let’s use something you can understand. This page
http://www.product-reviews. net/2007/11/28/kevin-rose- mobile-web-the-future-i-say-forget-mobi-iphone-or-phone-projector/
gets a ready score of 1/5. That means it will definitely display very poorly on a mobile phone. It’s great that you can pony up $500 for an iPhone, but the other 2 or so BILLION GAZILLION mobile customers may not a) want to, b) think it’s silly to spend that much on a phone, or c) earn $300 a YEAR somewhere.
So you may be right in the slimmest of senses; .mobi may not be right for you if you are one of the .05% or so that CAN purchase an iPhone and are so blinded by the notion that .mobi could ensure 100% satisfaction while mobile surfing.
@Hiya
I understand that, in fact I was just talking about the cost of the iPhone to a friend a moment ago, also as you said not everyone can buy an iPhone or even want one.
My answer is that I agree, but also say the iPhone in 2 years will be dirt cheap and as the “future of phones” means everyone would not need .mobi domains if they owned an iPhone or in fact forget the iPhone as many, many phones are coming out now (costing a lot at this time) that view web pages fine on any web page.
So lets say 2 years down the line, if 80% of phones view web pages fine…why have .mobi Domains at all.
@daniel..
Hi Daniel,
Broadband 9/10 UK is referring to PC use…not mobile phone use..
Those speeds are far from the broadband you’re referring to.
Martin
@ Martin
Very good point you make there, what about all the thousands of hot spots I get to use…everyday I have been out and about in coffee shops and viewing web pages for free (well contract paid) which things will get cheaper in “The Future of phones”.
I do agree with your points Martin, its just the future we are all talking about.
.mobi domains are a good idea, but not if most phones and broadband in THE FUTURE is cheap and able to view web pages fine.
@Daniel
Well.. the future decides…but the future is not only our future. Billions of people in countries like India, China, Indonesia etc.. don’t have entrance to the same facilities as we have…but have a mobile phone..
You got good points..I have mine..
Let’s wait and see…
Martin
The pullout, fold out, flexscreens (as known by many names but all essentially the same function) are indeed a great concept, albeit quite impractical at present and will be for some time.
Most designs are based on an LCD embedded (sandwiched) between two plastic and mylar sheets. The issue here is durability and longevity.
And can you imagine the billions of tweens and teens using a mobile device like this? Are you willing to shell out a few hundred bucks for a product who most likely would not stand up to the rigors of daily use by your kids?
My take on this will be the same as the UMPC…a great idea and concept but basically…who needs em?
The UMPC is quite the failure by many counts (manufactures and sales clearly show this) and has found a home not in the everyday consumer but in the hands of some traveling business folks. Not quite what MS, Samsung, Sony and the other backers had hoped for.
A recurring theme that I see over and over and over is this next latest and greatest product to come out is the death of .mobi.
Are you serious? A product spells the death of a domain extension? that is quite remarkable.
So a product designed for telecommunications and mobile connectivity is not suitable and worthy of having a domain extension to designate that this site is mobile compliant.
You are making some grand assumptions of the global population who could really care less about a domain name. Who do you think are the bulk of cell phone users at present? Before you went off to write this wild claim of .mobi not needed, did you do any research on who .mobi is trying to connect with?
The only ones that this whole .mobi issue seems to be an issue in the first place are domainers. Do you really think a kid surfing on a mobile device is going to give a damn what extension he is using or suddenly freak out when he discovers it is not a .com site he is on? Can you for one minute even begin to grasp the notion that it might just be this 13-25 year old bunch that embrace this new fangled domain as being “theirs” and “not your father’s internet”?
Step back and get out of the mindset of domain speak and put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. What one domain says mobile internet and mobile site better and clearer than .mobi? So much talk about branding.
Branding what? The difficult concept that .mobi means mobile? Damn, give 6th and 7th graders more credit than that.
Give 6th and 7th graders more credit than domainers give each other.
For me beauty of these mobi sites is they give an absolute guarantee that the site you are going to will be a great viewing experience on any phone with internet access.
Nothing else can give that.
The current wacky races with phones is throwing up all sorts of lame phones, including the mad projector phone imo.
However, the iphone is great and a model or two down line will be even better.
However third world countries are the biggest users of mobile banking etc and will not see these types of phones for years. The whole mobil;e internet is in a bit of a mess at minute and new potential users are put off by the anarchy.
.mobi seems to be an obvious cure to some of the anarchy. Think could work well hand in hand with other solutions. I think will take off very big.
Where do you project a display in a car, on the train or while walking?
Does the whole world have an iPhone? Will Nokia, Samsung, Motorola, LG, Sony, BlackBerry etc just fold up and die because of the iPhone? Hardly.
The .mobi brand is growing and taking hold. It’s coding requirements provide for a web experience for the vast majority of devices but it is not limited to that experience. It’s a branding proposition associated with making web content friendly to mobile devices. A better mobile device doesn’t render .mobi useless, just as a better PC won’t render .com useless.