Death knell for mobile web?

[Rubber Duck]

http://www.siliconrepublic.com/news...yid=single10756

15.04.2008 - The mobile web is “limited at best and dying at worst” said former Yahoo! Mobile evangelist and programmer Russell Beattie as he shut down his mobile browser start-up Mowser barely a year after its launch.
“I don’t actually believe in the mobile web anymore,” said Beattie in a post on his official blog, explaining how he has come to believe that a web experience developed solely for the mobile handset is just not a concept that is taking off.

“Two years ago I was convinced the mobile web would continue to evolve in the west to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn’t happened, and now I’m sure it isn’t going to.”

Although there are around three billion mobile phones in use worldwide, Beattie claims the argument that this is tilting the online market in favour of the handset over the PC is simply not true because the current browser experience on a handset is not full enough, unless you are using a device like the iPhone or Nokia N95.

“Let’s face it, you really aren’t going to spend any real time or effort browsing the web on your mobile phone unless you’re using Opera Mini or have a smart phone with a decent browser – as any other option is a waste of time, effort and money,” he said.

Mowser was developed by Beattie as a service that takes regular websites developed for a standard PC or Mac browser and optimises or converts them for a mobile experience.

Theoretically, this gave Mowser an unlimited market but Beattie said analysis of the traffic passing though his site showed around 80pc was related to porn with an absence of a general market.

“Let me say that again clearly, the mobile traffic just isn’t there. It’s not there now, and it won’t be,” he said with an air of finality on his blog.

The solution, said Beattie, is the smart phone. Statistics may support this conclusion: a recent survey by US tech trends firm iSuppli showed that US consumers spend on average 12.1pc of their time using the iPhone for the mobile web, while users of other mobile handsets only use the net on their handsets 2.4pc of the time.

 

[Rockefeller]

death to .mobi

 

[DomainName]

The technology just isn't here yet for the mobile web for regular cell phones. The amount of time it takes to load a page, non-keypads for most phone, etc. Eventually the tech will catch up, but for now there are many key components that are missing to drive this tech.

 

[MobileDesigner]

what an idiot. he just mentioned in his perspective and not in fact and without statistics. its just his own perspective. it is alive and kicking *** in asia - even without the crappy iPhone or Nokia N95 (which are not currently available in asia).

“Two years ago I was convinced the mobile web would continue to evolve in the west to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn’t happened, and now I’m sure it isn’t going to.”

people drive in usa and dont access the mobile internet as much as asia, this i can agree with. but to claim that mobile web is dying in all is an exaggerated statement. If you are in asia, you can see practically every person looking and surfing the mobile web.

STOP CLAIMING THAT WHAT IS STATED IN THE WEST IS THE SAME IN ASIA. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN ASIA THAN THE WEST.

BTW, the west have really crappy phones. i test with nokia and phones in Japan (Hitachi, Sony, Panasonic, etc) and Japanese mobile phones do a hell of a lot more than Nokia.

AU by KDDI
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"death to .mobi" !? what the hell does .mobi have to do with this thread? Yea, id rather have "cool.com" than "cool.mobi", but .mobi will do just fine for me.

Simple-minded enclosed-thinking people miss out on a lot of intelligent information that goes beyond the West. Yea, the west invented the mobile phone, but asia expanded it greatly.

My offer still stands. anyone that is willing to come to Japan, I will show them the mobile industry, the phones, the culture, and the technology.

 

[Ehsan]

Yea Death to Nokia, Microsoft and everyone who invested in .mobi yEAH RIGHT , a former Yahoo Employer blabbing all this because he lost his job there may be working on Yahoo Go for mobile ? hhahaha :lol:

 

[David G]

For some odd reason some things are never as popular in N America vs the rest of the world. The 2 most glaring examples are professional soccer and the mobile web, both of which are big flops here. Few Amercians even know what the World Cup is or ever watched it on TV, or appear likely to access websites on cell phones.

 

[Rubber Duck]

Mobile Designer,

If you are so damned smart, I trust you have some name in local script?

 

[duceman]

Pretty silly to give up before the thing even gets off the ground. Most people (in the US) don't get new mobile phones but once every few years.

 

[Rockefeller]

I love these types of threads.

Just because Nokia, Microsoft, etc paid $15 for a .mobi doesn't mean it can't fail...

 

[jasdon11]

The Russell Beattie story:

Guy starts business. Business fails. Guy crys.

 

[touchring]

Mobile Designer,

If you are so damned smart, I trust you have some name in local script?

mobile designer already mentioned, he missed out on the japanese names.

 

[Ehsan]

Mobile Designer,

If you are so damned smart, I trust you have some name in local script?

haahaha:lol: buying IDN's is not the smartest thing to do , i bet you buy newspaper written in IDN's that you cant understand :lol:

I love these types of threads.

Just because Nokia, Microsoft, etc paid $15 for a .mobi doesn't mean it can't fail...

Not that they paid $15 for a .mobi but they have INVESTED and became partners of the .mobi extension, i think we are not talking aobut your $15 investments here

 

[DomainsInc]

My girlfriend surfs the web all the time on her little samsung phone. Biggest problem, most sites won't even load properly let alone be displayed properly.

 

[Ehsan]

My girlfriend surfs the web all the time on her little samsung phone. Biggest problem, most sites won't even load properly let alone be displayed properly.

Did you tell her about .mobi sites yet ! more and more site are coming up with mobile version of there sites every day , Orkut a Social Site owned by google just released there mobile version a few days ago

 

[incka]

.mobi will ultimately die - but probably not for ten years or more.

 

[dotDan]

Did you tell her about .mobi sites yet ! more and more site are coming up with mobile version of there sites every day , Orkut a Social Site owned by google just released there mobile version a few days ago

I can't name a single .mobi site off the top of my head :disappointed:

 

[Rubber Duck]

Did you tell her about .mobi sites yet ! more and more site are coming up with mobile version of there sites every day , Orkut a Social Site owned by google just released there mobile version a few days ago

But isn't that the whole point.

Nobody needed to tell anyone about dot Com.

Big Commerce got out there and plastered it all over everything.

If big business does the same for you, then you are minted. If not you are going to be completely shagged.

 

[DomainsInc]

But isn't that the whole point.

Nobody needed to tell anyone about dot Com.

Big Commerce got out there and plastered it all over everything.

If big business does the same for you, then you are minted. If not you are going to be completely shagged.

If the .com's make their sites automatically viewable via a mobile phone then .mobi is in trouble but as of right now its very far from the case. Mobi will have a hard time simply because people surfing on their phones want to enter the .com's of their favorite websites.

 

[touchring]

.mobi will ultimately die - but probably not for ten years or more.

An extension will never die, it will just become "reg fee".

 

[Ehsan]

most of you have read the .mobi arguments somewhere on the site but you still dont wnat to acceptthat is alright we dont ahve to explain when you will be entering .mobi sites on your phone in a year or 2 that will convience you , you should all go register IDN's lol which ppl dont even have a way to enter in a browser that will be a Blast wont it Duck ?