Reposted from MobileActive08.org, by Brett Davidson
This afternoon I attended 'The Mobile Web': The potential and reality for developing countries, facilitated by Toni Eliasz.
There was extended discussion of the value of the mobile web to developing countries. Views hinge a lot on how one defines 'mobile web'. Some people had strong reservations about the potential of the mobile web, related to affordability, the need for high-end phones in order to browse the internet, the high cost of data access via cellphone networks, and ongoing problems with connectivity.
But many of these reservations can be removed if one defines the mobile web more broadly than accessing the Internet. One person proposed defining it as access to data and databases in whatever form. So if people are able to access data on the Internet, through tailored SMS services, for example, that qualifies as the mobile web.
Cost is not necessarily always high, some participants argued. One person pointed to MXIT - a South African-developed chat service used widely by teens. The cost of using it is minimal. Another pointed to widespread use of Google and social networking sites like Facebook among the youth, using cellphones.
The discussion also looked at the suitability and accessibility of present content on the web (some felt much current content is not really directed at the needs and capacities of people in the developing world -- eg places with low literacy levels). On the other hand, the development of the mobile web could help people leapfrog into higher levels of computer - and Internet - literacy, and could also allow people in developing nations to develop their own content.
Mobile internet is not 'the internet on the mobile', said one participant. The nature of sites, and the kind of data accessed are different. The same person warned that as with the Internet, the mobile web, will be flooded with commercially-based sites and commercial information. We need to ensure that the important social and educational and developmental content gets attention. NGOs need to ensure that their sites are tailored for mobile use, or else they will lose out.
The session was more about questions than answers: is there a need for specialised applications? How do we scale up projects and initiatives? How do we get people to develop suitable applications? Is SMS the thing to focus on for the near future, or should we be looking at WAP applications?
Agreed - Wap had it years ago
But no one cared - the operators closed off the technology while they were working out how to make a profit. Then they charged huge amounts for data making even WAP costly. There was just text and the only way to get to sites was through an operator portal or entering a long url on your phone. And the sales people tried to sell it as internet on your mobile instead of teletext on your mobile. So WAP got a bad rep which stayed with it.
In the meantime SMS was so easy so people used and used and used it and thought how wonderful it was.
But then the world changed - wap pushs (to send a link to mobile content -no more typing URLs) came in and mobile data rates went throught the floor. Then loads of phones could download pictures and ringtones and music via wap - but the clever marketing people never mentioned the word. And of course now sms is a bit more tricky because many people are swapping sim cards based on the time of day or whether it is the weekend.
Now we sit with a situation where an SMS is R0.30 in South Africa and you can get data (out of bundle) for R2 per MB. Now even if you were using a massive 2k of data to send a message over data you would still get 500 messages for your R2 (as opposed to 7 on SMS). Mxit have somewhat exploited this but unfortunately they use a java midp application so of course you cannot connect to the rest of the mobile web.
The phone standard going forward is not iphone or android or symbian (Although I must admit they are all great platforms with lovely graphical interfaces for standard web browsers - but will you see an iphone for $50 out of contract - I don't think so) - the stanadrd will be either HTML Basic (which to all intents is WAP 2) or web browsers built in Java (such as opera mini). And this will be the case until mobiles start getting graphics chips and connecting to LCD monitors / user visors (i.e. 10 to 20 years).
WAP
Katrin,
In 2000 I "wandered" into WAP space. I was & remain amazed at the power of simple apps to help in time of need. I did a simple National (USA) directory of all my colleagues across all 50 states (about 18,000) in a MySQL database accessible as a WAP app. And trust me phone in 2000 were NOT iPhone-like. :) Nonetheless, I could look up colleagues, their org's address, their main phone number, etc. All via WAP. Unbelievably efficient. UGLY as text based data - but useful and leveraging/marrying all the benefits of accessing WAP data on a mobile phone (i.e. links to phone numbers to "press & call") all from row/column data -- oh yeah, on a monochrome screen. There's deep value in WAP -- just not deep interest -- given the iPhone graphics of the world today.
Thanks for all the great team posts on the MobileActive08 events. Living/enjoying vicariously!
-Jeff