Mobile Browsing

Accessing the Internet by using a mobile phone or device is known as mobile browsing. Globally, 28 percent of all mobile phone owners used their phones for Internet browsing in 2006, according to research firm Ipsos Insight. To be able to browse the Internet, the mobile device must support a browser, such as Opera Mobile , which currently enjoys the largest market share.

A user can check email, watch TV, download music, take and transmit home movies, download ring tones and images, and more using mobile devices, as a result of GPRS and 2.5 and 3G mobile technologies. Traditionally, Web sites were not designed for use with the small screen and limited interface of a mobile device, but with the rise of mobile browsing, a growing number of Web portals are creating trimmed down versions of their sites to accommodate mobile device users. They also support features like uploading photos taken from a digital device right into blogs or photosharing services.

Mobile browsing recently received a boost when the Google-sponsored coalition Open Handset Alliance announced the release of Android, an open source standard programming interface to promote development on mobile Internet applications. Android is backed by a number of influential companies in the mobile content development area.

Though mobile browsing technology is quickly catching on, it still has a long way to go. The industry is plagued by competing standards that fragment the market and other inherent problems, such as the following:

• Mobile device batteries do not last long.
• Truly high speed mobile Web access is not available.
• Standardized mobile Web clients that are identical in functionality to PCs are not available.
• Mobile devices have small screens and limited data input and processing facilities.

In an instance of device interface promoting technology, there have been reports that the popular iPhone handset is actually encouraging the use of mobile browsing because of its ease of use. This underscores the notion that mobile browsing technology has not taken off due to hardware problems rather than the application itself.