Mobile Internet You Must Take It With You

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Mobile Internet:

YouMustTakeItwithYou

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Mobile Internet: You Must Take It with You, An Internet.com Personal Technology eBook. © 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

Every day, the Internet goes from being less of a luxury to more of a necessity for all of us.And with the worldwide growth of Internet usage combined with the nearly equal growth inmobile phone usage, more and more people will find the need to access the Internet throughtheir mobile device. This eBook examines how the mobile Web is evolving, the tips and tricksyou'll need to go mobile, as well as the basics of what you need to get started on the mobileInternet.

Contents

Today’s Mobile Web = Tomorrow’s Web

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Mobile's Decade of Managed Services

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Smartest Mobile Users? It Ain't Us

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Getting in on the Mobile Internet

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Mobile Internet: You Must Take It with You

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obileInternet,nolongerjustatoolforthecorporateroadwarrior,isbridgingthedigitaldivideandbringingtheWebtothemasses.WhetheryouareattheairportterminalinNewYorkcheckingNFLscores,orintheoutskirtsof NewDelhiviewingthelatestMPEGsofAishwaryaRai,youaretakingadvantageofthemobileInternet.However,thefeelingof liberationyoumightgetthefirsttimeyouaccesstheInternetfromamobiledevicecanbeeclipsedbyfrustrationascontentslowlyloads.OncefamiliarWebpagesmaybecomecoveredwithsquareopaquetileswhereimagesusetobeandtextrunsoffthescreen.Butyoumightjustbesatisfiedenoughbyseeingwhichteamsareplayingandwhatthefirsthalfscoreis.The leading usability issuessurrounding mobile internettoday are mobile device lim-itations, bandwidth con-straints, and browser andsite interoperability. Userdemands for ever morecompact devices limit screenand key size. Cell and wire-less coverage maps conflictwith the ever-changing con-nectivity needs of users onthe go. Embedded browsers try to adapt and compen-sate, but features such as page scaling, caching, andzooming can be a double-edged sword; altering theuser experience as they try to optimize the content forthe limited screen real estate and congested deliverypath. By contrast, the desktop browsing experience--with huge high resolution screens, ubiquitous keyboardand mouse inputs, and persistent high speed network-ing--is both mature and stable, and as such representsthe optimum model for mobile Web browsing.The two major players involved in guiding the develop-ment of mobile Web browsing experience towards adesktop browsing experience are Nokia and Opera.Both Nokia and Opera software offer developer kits toindependent software engineers to help create moreuser-friendly browsers, but until the demand for a bettermobile experience reaches its peak, the development of mobile browsers and mobile-friendly content will beslow. The development of mobile devices, browsers,and networks will follow the same path as that blazedon the desktop from dial-up text-based content to high-speed internet-friendly rich media content.

Mobile Explosion

Mobile phones have come along way and improved agreat deal; from the earlydays of mobile rigs in taxicabs and police cruisers, tothe first consumer-orientedphones to second generation(2G) phones in the 1990s andnow the 3G phones of today.As the industry has matured,however, there remains a lackof a single unified worldwidestandard for mobile phonetechnology. Early federal regulations were responsiblefor slowing the development of the mobile phoneindustry in the U.S. but as the FCC has relaxed regula-tions, we have witnessed a great market response withincreased speeds along with greater functionality andfeatures.According to the Internet consultancy Point Topic, tenyears ago, 50 million people used the Internet--today,roughly 1.1 billion people access it on a regular basis.Similarly, the number of mobile Web users will increase

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Mobile Internet: You Must Take It with You, An Internet.com Personal Technology eBook. © 2008, Jupitermedia Corp.

Mobile Internet: You Must Take It with You

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Today’s Mobile Web = Tomorrow’s Web

By Manish Parks

In our always-on, always-connected world, the Internet has become a resourcethat fewer and fewer people can do without. See what you'll be able to do in thenot-too-distant future with the mobile Internet.

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