When I got my first mobile phone seven or eight years ago, I payed extra for WAP capability. In the store I was told that this technology would change both the Web and our conceptions about mobile phone services. This turned out to be a gross exaggeration. Has the conditions changed sufficiently by now for mobile web to be a convenient tool for web heads on the move?

When I got home from the store that day with my first mobile phone, I was anxious to try out WAP. After struggling with it for about an hour, I quit and never tried WAP again. But that was in another millennium. Mobile technology has made a lot of progress since then.

WiFi phones

Thankfully, if I need to use my phone to go online I no longer have to use WAP. My phone, like millions of other newer mobile phones, has a web browser and wireless capability. This allows me to go online when I’m away from my computer and even my laptop.

Admittedly, there aren’t many hours a day that I’m not surrounded by computers, but if I find myself in an airport lounge or a cafe, I don’t have to experience Internet withdrawal symptoms.

iPhone & Co.

The iPhone isn’t available here in Norway yet, but my American friends tell me the big screen and the touch screen interface makes it a great tool. It’s a phone, it’s an iPod, and it includes all kinds of convenient tools. And in the context of mobile web, the touch-screen allows you to quickly zoom in and out on web pages.

Nokia has a couple of new phones too, that should make web browsing easier: The Nokia N95 8GB and the Nokia N810. Nokia calls the N810 a Web Tablet. It has a large screen (for a mobile device) and a full qwerty keyboard.

They’re everywhere

According to Read/Write Web, there are, about 3 billion mobile phone users in the world. Putting this number in a context, that’s more than the number of automobiles, more than the number of personal computers, more than the number of landline phones, more than the number of TVs, and more than the number of credit cards.

In Norway we have more mobile phone subscriptions than inhabitants!

Not all of these phones have web capabilities, but it still makes for a huge market.

Mobile web is even a way to reach markets that can’t be reached in other ways. For instance, most of Africa will probably never be wired, but wireless web is growing fast. And products and services for the mobile web are prolific.

Mobile search

The search engine industry is on the case. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and Ask all provide web search services for mobile devices.

Smartphone and Pocket PC Magazine has a convenient list of mobile directories, start pages, search services and more.

We haven’t been able to test all of these, but we were pleased to see that both Google and Ask not only provide search interface that is adapted for mobile devices, but also return search results that display well on a small screen.

Is the time finally right?

Visiting Washington CD last week, I used my mobile phone to access the web site of the Smithsonian Institution to find their opening hours. It seemed very convenient: I was online in no time. But the Smithsonian web site wasn’t optimized for mobile browsers and after five minutes of trying to find my way around, I had to admit defeat.

While in DC, I heard a presentation about mobile learning (m-learning) by Dr. Heather A. Katz, VP of Computer Technology Services.

Her excellent presentation left me with a profound sense of deja vu: One of her most important recommendations was to remember to take the limitations of the framework conditions into consideration.

Framework conditions used to impose all kinds of problems on web users only a few years ago: Band width and screen size used to be real show stoppers. With m-learning and all other mobile web activities, these two are still a huge problem and there are others that can be crippling as well, like tiny keyboards, light and back-light conditions and more.

There is only one cure: By finding the lowest common denominator for all the mobile devices your visitors use, you can be certain that the service you provide will be enjoyable for all visitors.

This means making your website device independent, so it works for all kind of mobile devices, including mobiles, PDAs, PSPs etc. You might want to take a look at our feature article about mobile search optimization for recommendations about this and more.

The problem is this: Catering to the lowest common denominator makes for accessible, but not very cool or fancy services. Many or even most providers of mobile web services still go for cool.

In conclusion, I am convinced that despite the advantages of new and better devices for mobile web access and a huge amount of services available, the limitations of framework conditions like screen size, band width and input devices means mobile web still has a long way to go.