Computing On The Go
Wireless DSL provides the necessary oomph for handheld devices to take on the role of traditional portable PCs, and major carriers are offering broadband speeds via their cellular networks using technologies such as EV-DO (Verizon and Sprint), EDGE (Cingular) and other high-speed wireless technologies. Often referred to as 3G (third-generation) wireless, these high-speed connections bring capabilities to the handheld market that once were thought impossible. Many handhelds offer EV-DO (evolution-data only) or EDGE (enhanced data rates for global evolution) connectivity, along with traditional cell-phone capabilities. The higher speeds allow the devices to more effectively pull and push e-mail, access video, download applications and use remote-access technologiesall features that were once limited to wired connections and traditional PCs.
One area in which handhelds have always sported a weakness is Web browsing. This problem is caused by two factors: slow speeds and small displays.
Most Web sites are formatted for full-size screens and often employ third-party technologies, thereby making Web-site access from a handheld device frustrating, at best.
Although still limited in scope, this problem is solved in the form of Web content specifically designed for handhelds. In the past, users would need to seek out sites based upon the Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) standard. WAP-based sites are coded in WML (Wireless Markup Language) and are specifically designed to work with WAP-compatible browsers found on cell phones and handheld devices. Although WAP can get the information across, it has been a less-than-elegant solution. With the variety in WAP devicessome have only three display lines, while others have moreWAP content is often optimized for the least-capable display, wasting valuable screen real estate on higher-end units.
With that limitation realized, many handheld manufacturers now are including browsers that can surf traditional Web sites by scaling images, creating multiple windows and attempting to divvy up content into viewable snippets. The outcome is access to traditional Web content, but with inconsistent interfaces and navigation hurdles.
A consortium of manufacturers and Web-presence companies was formed to devise a new way of providing Internet content to handheld devices. This method is known as the .mobi domain.
As a new top-level domain, .mobi is being promoted by Google, Microsoft, Vodafone, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia, among others. Industry members and trademark holders now can register a .mobi domain name. General registration is open for everyone beginning Aug. 28.
The opportunity for the channel with .mobi will be tremendous. The key to success is in understanding how to mobilize content for customers and how to leverage the tools that exist to create content aimed at handheld systems. Companies of all sizes will be looking to create .mobi sites with content optimized for the mobile Web. While the initial move over to .mobi sites will mean double development (sites developed for traditional World Wide Web and sites developed for mobile Web), the solution providers that can bring the tools to combine site development chores will quickly be able to seize this opportunity on three frontssite construction, handheld sales and wireless services.
Solution providers will have to follow some simple rules when building content for a .mobi domain. The pages must be encoded in XHTML-MP, and frames cannot be used. Compliance to defined standards will be an important consideration. Many manufacturers are now poised to put a ".mobi-Ccompliant" label on their devices, and new design tools will offer .mobi-compliance validation.
The important thing for solution providers to remember is that .mobi is here and will grow, as will other opportunities surrounding mobile technology.