Mobile Web Obsolete?

sandykory — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 05:46:05 +0000

For a long time, I assumed that the mobile Internet was going to become the Next Big Thing as smartphones with 3g Internet connectivity proliferated. On my Blackberry, I used to spend a fair amount of time on ugly, WAP-enabled sites that had spartan functionality. Eventually, I thought, whether using the WAP protocol or not, mobile Internet browsing would be as ubiquitous as desktop browsing.

Not anymore. With my iPhone, I get my news via apps from Bloomberg and NY Times. The apps provide a dramatically better experience of consuming digital media on a smartphone. I still think within a few years most people will have a smartphone with high-speed Internet. But apps crush the mobile Internet browser. I think apps from the iPhone and iPod Touch will end up dominating, but even if market share is dispersed between multiple smartphone platforms, I’m convinced apps will rule the day.

There are many things to figure out in this emerging ecosystem. Do apps lose allure since they aren’t hyperlinked to the World Wide Web? A little, but I’m sure smart engineers will figure out ways to have rich apps that integrate with other apps. How will apps make money? Like anyone else, I would say through a combination of pay-per-download, subscription, and ads. But I don’t know enough at this point to get more specific than that.

It’s early days in apps monetization, but I’d wager many fortunes will be made as the platform matures.

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Mobile Web Obsolete?