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Mobile web dead or just sleeping?

Mowser was a browser that would take sites designed for the web and render them for mobiles, launched last year. I say was, because its founder, Russell Beattie has decided to pull the plug after struggling to find funding.

Aside from his debts, Beattie said on his blog that he decided to stop development on the browser because “I don’t actually believe in the “Mobile Web” anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at best, and dying at worst. I’m talking specifically about sites that are geared 100% towards mobile phones and have little to no PC web presence”.

But Beattie isn’t suggesting that people don’t want to use the mobile web *at all*, just they don’t want to use it when it feels so much worse than a PC browser. The solution to getting more web traffic, he says, is better devices and better browsers. Here here. Perhaps if every phone had a whizzy browser and a big screen, the mobile web would be used everywhere. But given we’re years off mid tier and low tier devices getting such capabilities, if they ever do, is there a way of encouraging mobile web take up in the meantime?

7 COMMENTS

  1. Personally I find it very hard to surf the web using my mobile phone. It just doesn’t have the same “feel”. The screen is too small and I find it hard to move about the screen with the controller. I guess I’m just old-fashioned 🙂

  2. Yes there is…keep improving mobile websites as browsers improve. It’s about the size of the screen not the capabilities of the browser, always has been. Simple interfaces have actually been very helpful as of late to create interest in mobile usage. Look at m.twitter.com – no ajax there and people are on it all day. For me what’s really a problem in mobile is battery life. 🙂

    http://blog.crispwireless.com/#post-11

  3. Just recently tried Opera on a bog standard Nokia. works great. I still cynical about usage when you consider the prepay market dynamics here in Europe. I accept the US is moving more towards flat data plans, however at the end of the day I shall always browse better with a PC. Obvious I know..

  4. Russell is a great bloke (I’ve never met him bet I’ve read his blogg for years) and I’m sorry to hear he’s pulled the plug. Getting finance is not going to be easy for the next couple of years and that

  5. Ok, I’m half asleep…! The barmaid was updating her status on Facebook and I’m sorry for the grammatical errors… I’m not at my best today!

  6. There is a mobile internet device which has a large screen full QWERTY keyboard and displays the the real web just like the experiance you get on your pc. The PocketSurfer2!
    It is in the low tier to mid tier device category, comes with its own integarted SIM card and BEST of all free usage! 20 hours every month
    How it works, a mobile internet device connected to a mobile network, accesses a proxy server using as the browser and displaying real web pages so no need for WAP.
    The Pocketsurfer2 is very fast too, whizzes around the net!

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