Does the title sound over dramatic? I think not.
Just a few months ago, I would have tossed aside such notion as nonsense and pure science fiction. Reason? The failure of WAP internet in late 90s and the poor state of mobile broadband data services in this country.How things have change so fast in so little time. Today, anyone who failed to take note of this new trend will soon find themselves left behind and playing catch-up.
A recent article in a Symbian website commented that half of internet users in the world access it through a phone:
“…it is inevitable that soon the majority of internet access will be from mobile phones. As we’ve reported here, in many Emerging World countries form Bangladesh to South Africa the ratio is more than 4 to 1 and as much as 10 to 1 where more mobile users access internet services (including WAP services) on their phones than on PCs. Even many advanced countries like Japan and Taiwan report the same milestone having passed. Now Nokia says the global milestone has passed.”
Why do I think mobile web is an emerging power?
1. Improved Support by Telephone Companies
Needless to say, iPhone by Apple is the biggest contributor. Recent reports have proved beyond doubt that iPhone has made a huge impact on mobile web arena. Though iPhone only represent 5% of total phone users, last year iPhone users made 5000% more Google search than the nearest competitor. Since then, millions of iPhone apps were downloaded, many of which requires Internet connectivity.
Needless to say, iPhone by Apple is the biggest contributor. Recent reports have proved beyond doubt that iPhone has made a huge impact on mobile web arena. Though iPhone only represent 5% of total phone users, last year iPhone users made 5000% more Google search than the nearest competitor. Since then, millions of iPhone apps were downloaded, many of which requires Internet connectivity.
Nokia also is no slouch. Its biggest contribution has been in making email access through its phone so much easier – especially in its E and N series. With integral support for Gmail and corporate POP mail, email on phones is as easy as SMS. I have always maintained that email will be the killer app for mobile web and with the runaway success of E71 – Nokia would agree with me on this score too.
The default browser shipped with mobile phones have also improved by leaps and bound. You can now browse the majority of websites well and not restricted to functionally-challenged WAP sites.
2. Improved mobile broadband service
Better late than never. The major telcos in Malaysia are all offering 3G services in major city areas and even where 3G not available, GPRS data services are not too shabby either. The competition has also forced the data plan to be priced at a more reasonable sub-RM50 package for basic unlimited data plan.
3. Improved mobile-centric services
We are seeing more and more mobile-centric services being offered. If you’ve a GPS enabled phone, try Google Map for mobile and be amazed with the details provided there. Unfortunately, beside the news sites like The Star and Business Times that have mobile specific sites, I have not seen many local sites that take advantage of this up and coming trend. Asiaspace have recently announced its plan to beam mobile TV – but I’ll believe it when I see it.
4. Increased sale of smartphones
1 out of 7 handsets sold worldwide in 2009 is a smartphone. And most smartphones today is basically a mini-computer where use of internet, social networking sites and email is at the forefront.
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