The Mobile Internet
With the introduction of the iPhone the mobile internet finally came alive. Smart phones capable of surfing the internet were available long before the iPhone but were limited by download speed, screen size, cost and the installed browsers giving a less than optimal experience.With the introduction of 2G and 3G networks the slow downloads speeds were overcome. Before these technologies came along the mobile experience was painfully slow. Downloads speeds were about the half the speed of dialup. The only problem being was that broadband and fast connections were already very common and most web sites had come to reflect this. Trying to view a web site that took about 3 to 5 minutes to download, was difficult to view and looked terrible made the experience a chore and something you would only do when you had to - not when you wanted to.
Surfing the mobile internet in the old days (circa 2004/5) was extremely expensive as well. I had a contact with Orange that cost me £4 a month for 3 megabytes of data. To conserve bandwidth and to speed web pages up I permanently had images turned off. When I read emails I only downloaded the Subject field. If the subject looked interesting then I would download the rest of the message. Not all emails that I needed to act upon had Subject lines able to grab my attention so I missed some pretty important stuff.
RIM, with there line of BlackBerry phones, had already cracked the email side of the mobile internet for medium to large businesses but it took the introduction of the iPhone to really change the mobile web.
The iPhone (in the UK at least) comes with unlimited downloading, the web browser is fantastic to use and works like a desktop computer and email integration is available to all.
Other phone manufactures were forced to up their game if they wanted to compete and now the mobile landscape gives the customer a good choice of mobile phones that can make use of the mobile internet.
If consumers are moving into the mobile space then businesses need not only to follow them but to get there first so the welcome mat is well and truly rolled out.
Here at Hidden Agenda Ltd we make sure you web site works with the iPhone browser. If you are prepared to spend a little extra we can give your customers a full mobile experience by displaying your web site in mobile friendly way.