It Could Be Worse

• From Future Platforms, which specialises in content delivery to mobile devices
• Used to work in web development, but got sick of it in 1999
• Got into mobile market instead
• A different perspective, as he’s never done any Ajax
• Analyst quote. The gist: “there are lots and lots of mobile phones“
• Another view: convergence (Bill Gates)

What’s Web 2.0?
* Reminded of “new media”, “4G”, “Java 5″, “New Ariel” – they describe what they’re not, rather than what they are.
* It’s a marketing term of differentiation

What about mobiles?
* Open data formats? Check. Or open standards at least, implemented well (c.f. the adoption of “modern” browsers took w3 standards from nice theory to good in practice)
* No walled gardens? Erm, nope. But the gardens seem to work in the mobile world…
* Online – to be connected to 30%+ of the human race

What’s it all about?
* Communication between individuals, mostly pretty lowbrow
* Glancing (”I’m thinking of you”), gifting (”I saw this and thought of you” – MMS)
* Personal entertainment. People want TV on their mobiles, for some reason! Also content production (camera phone direct to Flickr)
* Info. on the move – (e.g. Google Local Mobile)
* “I believe that the future of the Internet is mobile”

Web on mobile
* WML (native.or transcoded)
* XHTML-MP
* cHTML (NTTDoCoMo’s own standard)
* HTML (Opera browser on some mobiles)
* Ajax (not yet, but being talked about) Appropriate on mobile? What about Flash Lite? Is Ajax a step backwards in that it’s trying to replicate desktop apps?
* Google killed the pub quiz!
* Some technical overlap between mobile and desktop web
* The markup is only a small part of the pie
* Existing web agencies sometimes view the mobile web as print designers viewed the web in the 90s

How is mobile different?
* Network operators are very important – a love/hate relationship with the web industry
* Device diversity – far greater than in the desktop world. No standard form factor. Need adaptive services. WURFL is your friend
* Tight software/hardware integration – you can’t change your phone’s browser. Closed devices, without software upgrades and with slow hardware upgrade cycle.
* Truly mass market: possibly 100% penetration in UK, >100% in other countries. Broad demographic reach. Less arrogant language towards consumers than the web (you don’t have to understand it in order to use it). Usability & design more important. QA more important, as things get installed on handsets.
* Implicit commerciality. No “information wants to be free” There’s a billing relationship: it’s commercial. Successful micropayment implementation. Economics are different due to limited radio spectrum
* Context of use: private, personal, anonymous? Anywhere, anytime. “Disposition towards goal-driven use”. Good fit with the provision of medical care/advice.
* “Wi-fi will destroy telcos”. “That’s balls”

Web everywhere?
* Mobile is how people are connected today
* Web and mobile overlap but are distinct

No time for questions…