Mobile Web Trends & Products, March '08 Update
When it comes to keeping track of Mobile Web trends and products, Rudy De Waele has his finger constantly on the pulse. This month Rudy gave a presentation at the Plugg Conference in Brussels about Mobile 2.0. It was an update to the one we featured in September '07 and as usual it is a fantastic overview of the Mobile Web space. I've picked out some highlights below, and embedded the whole slideshow at the conclusion of this post (via Slideshow).
Social Networking - MySpace Leads Over Facebook
The following slide tells a familiar story about the top of the mobile social networking tree - i.e. MySpace currently leads, but Facebook is gaining fast. Also interesting to note that MSN / Windows Live Spaces is a strong third, so they are well positioned here.
Here are a couple pf screenshots of Facebook and MySpace in mobile. I myself access Facebook every now and then via iPhone - and I've found the experience to be good, albeit very limited compared to accessing Facebook via PC. I get the feeling that the first social network to really break open with a slick, feature-packed mobile UI is going to quickly ramp up. And my bet is that it won't be one of the established players that does that, but a new Mobile-native social network.
Mobile Web Space
The following graphic, credited to Raimo van der Klein (who runs a cool Mobile Web blog here), is a representation of where the main action is in Mobile Web. It shows that the intersection of Mobile with Communication is where the interesting things are happening - GrandCentral, Zinghu, Jaiku, Google Maps, etc.
Here is Rudy's breakdown of the primary categories in Mobile Web, along with startups and products to watch:
What's Next?
The following slide lists some hot trends in Mobile Web:
Presentation
Below is Rudy's full presentation. And for a full primer on this topic, be sure to check out the guest post Rudy wrote for ReadWriteWeb back in Dec '06. It's called Understanding Mobile 2.0 and it has stood the test of time!
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The future for mobile is very bright! :)
Now if only someone would make a decent phone.
Jason, the iphone isn't good enough for you?
Most definitely not! The iPhone hardware itself is neat and new... but the extra baggage and restrictions that come along with buying an Apple product simply makes it not worth my time.
I wouldnt mind developing applications for it... oh wait I cant, I have to own a Mac, no thanks. I think I'll take my chances and wait to see how Android unfolds or even WM7.
I believe that the second a phone is released with simliar (or hopefully better) hardware as the iPhone but with Android or WM7 installed then we're going to see a huge shift in smartphone marketshare.
On a side note, this article was great and I want more on mobile!
Jason, noted re mobile articles ;-)
I take your point re baggage that currently comes with iphone. Altho I use it in an unlocked state here in NZ and I absolutely love it. An iphone type hardware with Android etc does sound appealing.... and maybe make the battery last longer too :-)
Can I make one more suggestion? Make that list of "Startups and Products to watch" an actual list of URLs and not an image?
Are you really going to make me google each one of those?
Well, I am trying to stay on top of mobile 2.0 and web 2.0, but after seeing this I think it is hopeless. I am amazed at the convergence of stuff all coming together. On the one hand I love it and on the other hand it is just so overwhelming. Thanks for taking the time to put this info in one place and I hope you can tear it apart on each element as time progresses.
Great article. The mobile web seems to be really taking off, spurred on by some great platforms such as the iPhone. I agree with your main point that "connectedness" is key; and where the buzz is at the moment.
Interestingly, I've been working on a way to make mobile sites more accessible to handheld and mobile device users, called Tiiny:
http://tiiny.com
It is a basically a personalised portal which maximises the use of screen real estate. The goal is to put all those great sites mentioned in your article in an easily accessible form. Any feedback or comments welcome.
Julian
One area that should take off quite rapidly in this area which doesn't get mentioned often are financial sites. The ability to quickly take care of one's finances from banking to applying for various loans, conducting investment transactions will proliferate. The future for mobile web is not only just bright but it's blindingly bright. We are seeing the tip of the iceberg.
You can see the another summary for Mobile Web 2.0 Trends.
Top 10 Mobile Web 2.0 Predictions for 2008 - http://hollobit.tistory.com/131
You know, the Plugg Conference also has its own website :)
You can find Rudy's presentations as well as the ones from the other keynote speakers here: http://plugg.eu/presentations
I hope, I even believe that a mobile-native social network will be the number one in future.
AirG for example already seems to be quite successful (http://www.airg.com/). One I really like is GyPSii (http://www.gypsii.com/) because it is location based.
What also looks promising: oneconnect by yahoo (http://mobile.yahoo.com/oneconnect), location based as well.
The convergence of anything be it ID (OpenID, RealID), social media (FriendFeed, Socialthing, etc.), or anything else brings about a significant issue for privacy.
Do you really trust Verizon, AT&T, and other big telcos to protect you in any way?
I, for one, do not welcome such a converged device/ service unless my privacy is adequately sand-boxed.
The more one brings together, the more easily this data can be tracked and logged (forever).
I guess the marketers can't wait.
I don't accept Raimo's chart as generally true - there's nothing new about mobiles and communication (and it shows only Google properties).
+1 however on recognising the 'mobilize' category, this is an important one that is only just now gaining traction.