Overview
From dialing a number to surfing the web,
communication through a mobile device has grown tremendously in the last decade.
Along with the growth of mobile devices comes the rise of the mobile web.
Communication in society today depends upon the use of smart phones. Anyone has
the ability to have instant access to the Internet through a hand-held device
that fits right in your pocket, regardless of location.
Where It First Began
The Internet used on mobile devices is the same Internet that
computers used since its first development the 1990s. Between 1989 and 1995,
the fundamental components of the Internet were developed and by 1997, the
Internet became widely popular and used, which ultimately starts the Internet
phone hype.
In that same year, AT&T Wireless put the first mobile Internet
phone, called PocketNet, out onto the market. Although it didn’t look special
or different from a standard mobile phone, it actually included 19.2 Kbps modem
running on the Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) network. Two other phones
followed the release of this phone: the Mitsubishi Mobile Access (MA120) and
the Samsung Duett.
AT&T’s phones were not received well and only sold 20,000
PocketNet phones. This was due to its limited features as well as its poor
design. With only a small screen, it was not compatible with most web sites
developed during that time, which is the goal of an Internet phone. It used the
analog AMPS network for voice calling instead of the highly demanded digital
voice feature. It also didn’t allow users receive calls when the user was in
data mode. There were many factors that lead to the unsuccessful release of
these phones, but it was the start to the development of Internet phones,
providing both voice and data capabilities. The mobile Internet pushed teams to
think and develop accordingly.
In 1999, AT&T launched two new digital PocketNet phones, but the
CDPD data network was abandoned shortly after and thus the PocketNet market
came died. These phones were powered by the Unwired Planet technology, known
today as Openwave. This technology used a protocol called Handheld Device
Transport Protocol (HDTP) and a markup language called Handheld Device Markup
Language (HDML). HDTP and HDML differed from Internet used on a computer, which
uses HTTP and HTML. The different markup languages and protocols used caused
viewing sites on a mobile device incompatible. HDTP/HDML was later abandoned
and a new standard was adopted: Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) and
Wireless Markup Language (WML).
Development
Overseas
In 1999, NTT DOCOMO, the largest wireless carrier in Japan, launched
i-mode, Japan’s first mobile Internet service. It was so successful that it
reached 10 million users by 2000, and 40 million users by 2003. A complete
opposite of PocketNet’s launch, Americans directed their success due to
Japanese culture - that Japanese people adapt technology early on, commute
often through public means and are more willing to use data services, and
landline costs were much higher in Japan than US so more Japanese people used
mobile phones.
However, the underlining reason was the developers understanding of
what users wanted and could benefit from, while creating an ecosystem in which
the content provider and the company can also benefit. I-mode had content that
users wanted at great prices. Many wireless carriers were incapable of creating
this balanced system at the time.
Content providers agreed to work with DOCOMO because their model
gave 91% of the content sale to the provider. The company also wanted to focus
on cutting costs – not hiring developers to create an application environment
but to base their markup language, iHTML, on exisiting computer Internet
standards of HTTP and HTML. I-mode was the leader for mobile Internet for many
years.
United States
WAP, the Wireless Application Protocol, was trying to create
protocol and markup language specifications that would bridge the differences
between mobile and pc internet. However, there was very little interest in WAP
or WML (Wireless Markup Language) in the development community. This sparked the xHTML Mobile Profile 1.0 in 2001, which was a lot
closer to HTML than WML, but still caused confusion in developers to support
the two different markup languages. Thus, mobile Internet in the U.S was
growing slowly, but surely.
The Apple Phenomenon
Finally in June 2007, Apple came out with the iPhone, collaborating
with AT&T as its first carrier. Apple proved critics wrong by launching the
iPhone with AT&T’s EDGE network, which was only a 2.5G network, along with
a $30 per month unlimited data plan. This phone had a slower network with a
more expensive data plan than other phones. However, the problem with the
adaptation of the mobile Internet was not the network or cost. It was the fact
that past launches did not have a satisfactory design that users enjoyed using
while surfing the web.
Competitors were different from Apple because Apple focused on the
user experience, and was powered with a strong developer base due to its
operating system with desktops. Apple then changed its model to also focus on
developers, thus leading to HTML.
Mobile Internet Today
Technology in this day and age is always changing and advancing. So
many languages were developed to solve the problem of the mobile web. This
chart shows which languages are still used today, and which ones didn't pick up.
HTML5 is the latest language being used today. It combines changes to CSS and
Javascript that makes it really desirable in development. It is now supported
on most devices, thus making HTML5 the “best solution for creating and
deploying content in the browser across multiple platforms”, as stated by Danny
Winokur, the VP and General Manager of Adobe.
The Future Ahead
The world can stop with HTML 5 or it can continue with an HTML 6, 7,
and 8! Technology is growing so fast these days that it is hard to predict the
outcome in the next decade. However, by knowing the past and the present, we
can definitely see that the mobile Internet technology will be improving and
changing everyday. Now with open source technology, anyone can create
applications for phones. The future for mobile devices is likely to deal with
the browser, cameras, and GPS. Augmented realties are already being developed
and used in some way. It is also predicted that mobile internet usage will
surpass desktop internet usage by 2014.
Although the mobile web is growing, it still can’t handle flash
sites, or cloud computing. Mobile websites should be grow towards connecting
with others through sharing information. The mobile web should utilize what’s
they know of pc internet and how to go from there. Mobile internet will also not be limited to just phone devices, but
will be used in all sorts of ubiquitous computing. It should soon be accessed
anywhere and everywhere. The future for the mobile web is definitely bright and
exciting.
Angela Mao
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