Mobile browsers have to date been consumer unfriendly. It was if the web could only be accessed via the laptop or on a limited service via the mobile. It was frustrating to try an navigate browsers which looked and acted old and clunky.
Now with only 2% share of the smartphones worldwide market, the iPhone’s Google feature outperformed all other operators over the Christmas period. Although it later fell back behind Nokia’s Symbian system, which has some 63% market share, according to data from Google reported in the New York Times, it still remained ahead of the rest of the pack.
Yahoo said that iPhone traffic also accounted for a disproportionate amount of its mobile traffic during this period and AdMob, who promote billions of ads on mobile Web sites every month, said it saw traffic from iPhones surge drastically around Christmas.
What this clearly indicates is that the iPhone is different, is being used different and will lead potentially to a revolution on what we use mobile phones for. Apple has raises the internet browser bar and consumers will demand that others follow.
So what does this mean to publishers? It is clear that the ergonomic and user acceptable mobile browser is close to mass adoption and that the iPhone is proving the tipping point. This extends the reach of marketing and promotion into new areas and past the jacket model that prevails today. As for content it’s almost inevitable that the digital renditions will be online with downloads to mobile devices. It is highly unlikely that the personal library will be on the mobile device and that it will follow the music model and dedicated device will not be for the mass market. So do you really want a sledgehammer reading device to crack this digital ebook nut?
