Mobile phones are poor internet browsers. The screen is too small, you never know how expensive a web page will be to view and navigation is frustrating.
In the real world designers have made the mobile internet accessible by making it smaller – literally. BBC News has been re-imagined as a simpler place with fewer headlines, reduced navigation and simpler content. However ‘mobile lite’ versions of the broadband experience only reinforce the mobile internet as a place to visit when you have time to kill.
The iPhone offers a full fat internet experience from a mobile device, but the truth it a very poor telephone experience. This week the App Store celebrated the real success story of iPhone. 200 million mobile applications downloaded in 16 weeks.
The best of these use place and context to create powerful social tools. A fascinating political app, Obama ’08, turned supporters into fundraisers armed with the latest talking points delivered straight to your phone. These calls would be logged and the ‘stats’ forwards to campaign headquarters in Illinois.
Democrats ‘voting for change’ may be relaxed by this level of oversight. However they may not be so happy when brands attempt to execute similar campaigns.
It’s not necessary to own an iPhone to experience the future. A new generation of location based services (LBS) can turn every mobile into a smart device. These rely on user context (time and place) to provide relevant information. Operators can determine your approximate position using the cellular network so it’s not even necessary to own a GPS phone. Useful if you want to find the nearest coffee shop or hospital. Not so useful when you get spammed by dating services.
Making money to fund location based services is exercising operators, manufacturers and developers equally. The Cloud, Europe’s largest WiFi provider, segments users by age, location and device. This allows advertisers to promote services to specific users. The drawback is that as yet, numbers are insufficient to fund free ‘Hotspots’ in stations and hotels. This unlikely to be the case for long.
The exciting new development is that Mobile search is becoming subjective. The supremely local Moximity demonstrates how to bring social networks into the real world. This service provides a local search based on personal preferences and the ‘traces of friends’.
In the US, dedicated mobile social networks, such as Buddy Finder, allow users to track friends. In the UK some 10% of mobile users access social websites such as Facebook, Bebo and Myspace. These pared down websites still require users to actively publishing information.
This is changing.
As Obama ’08 demonstrates mobile apps can mine personal data. An application which broadcasts your position on the network raises issues of privacy and security. Is it appropriate to be tracked on all occasions, can you turn this functionality off?
The evidence is that users do not use the tools they are given. Less than 5% of users apply privacy controls on Facebook. Managing your mobile profile across time and place is an even more complex mental transaction. Users must consider:
· Time – do I want to be viewed after 8pm?
· Place – do I want to be viewed by colleagues/clients/spouse at weekends?
· Friends – which of my friends can see me?
There is a commercial battle for location based search. Operators have been slow to exploit this market place. Manufacturers such as Nokia and Apple have stepped in with products that detect your location and provide context from details stored on the phone.
Users of these new devices may not be aware how capable they are.
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