dotMobi, the Mobile Web enabler
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Palm has released Traffic for the Treo that takes full advantage of all models of the popular phone. Traffic sends live traffic information to the Treo in real-time by updating the data wirelessly. Traffic data is available for a number of major cities and will cost you a monthly fee after the 14-day trial period ends.
From the makers of the “people’s car” (Volkswagen) to the manufacturers of the car for people with a whole lot of money (Ferrari), auto makers are prepared to accommodate iPod users. The Americans have gotten in on the deal, too - Ford and GM made an arrangement with Apple that was announced yesterday.
CircleID is a community hub for the Internet’s Core Infrastructure & Policies. One of its recent articles, dotMobi Making the Mobile Web a Reality in North America, is well worth reading. However the title might sound like a statement whereas the content shows that it is more a hope on the part of some of the big players in the field.
Current reality is illustrated in The Face of the Web, the annual study of Internet trends by Ipsos Insight. It reports that Internet browsing with mobile phones is showing robust growth in many global markets. France and the U.K. are exhibiting the strongest growth in this trend, and in Japan, 4 in 10 adults browse the Internet on their wireless handset, double the rate from 2003. However, in the U.S. and Canada, growth in Internet browsing on a mobile phone is flattening.
The article goes on to define the problem:
Part of the problem is that many existing Internet sites are grounded in desktop PC-oriented services and were not designed with a mobile phone in mind. In the U.S., consumers use a PC as their primary Internet access point. This usually means using a full keyboard, a large monitor, and generally no limits on how much data can be downloaded in one sitting.
Using the mobile phone to access the Internet is a different story. There are more than seven types of operating systems, including, Palm, Symbian and Windows CE - and at least seven types of browsers, such as Mozilla Firefox and Opera. The devices have numerous ways to input data: some use a typical phone pad, some use QWERTY and some have limited keyboard functionality. And with all of them, the screen size varies greatly.
The solution must come from a standards-based approach that is backed by a cross-section of the mobile industry that has a stake in its success. Enter dotMobi - the informal name of mTLD, Ltd. dotMobi’s backers include the “who’s who” of the mobile and Internet industry. They all share the same goal: growth of the mobile Internet in a user-centric, achievable and standardized way. To achieve that growth, dotMobi has launched the first in a series of Switch On!? Guides. These guides are based on the work of leading mobile companies as well as participation in the W3C Mobile Web Initiative.
This is an upbeat article and it is to be hoped that dotMobi can achieve the success it is seeking. However progress will undoubtedly be slower than its proponents would wish.
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