Blindspot: Mobile browsing

Yesterday, I had a great, if
rushed, conversation with Nokia’s Browser Master, Franklin Davis (nice bio on this page).
Franklin has been deep into mobile browser and Web technologies for a
very long time and I like to go to him for insight into where things
are going. His big thing now is the Nokia Open Source S60 Browser that is based on the same code as Safari from Apple. I’ve
been using the browser on my N93, but it’s also available on a
bunch of other more recent S60 phones, if are lucky enough to get one.
It’s really the fullest browser on a mobile, allowing you to do a lot
more than most PC-based browsers only a few years ago.

But,
here comes my blindspot*: As you may have noticed from reading my site,
I am not too fond of passive mobile browsing or content consumption.
And, talking to Franklin, I was wondering how to put my thoughts in a
positive light, since he’s a ‘browser’ guy. After talking with him and
then doing some more thinking today, I have better positioned the S60
OSS Browser in my model of the mobile world.

We are not consumers. We are active participants in our life.
The mobile has taken communication and sharing to a new level for
humanity. The two most used features of a mobile phone are voice and
text messaging – communication. Unfortunately, most mobile service
providers think all we want to do is sit and watch TV,
download ring tones and wall papers, and, yes, browse information. Eh,
that doesn’t fit my idea of the Mobile Lifestyle.

If the
survivors of Web 1.0 and the poster children of Web 2.0 are any
indication, even on the PC-based Web, people aren’t just passively
consuming. Ebay and Amazon are not about consuming, but connecting via
an enabling platform. Google is not about browsing, but about seeking
and finding answers to our questions. Flickr is not about browsing, but
about sharing images of our life. On-line journals and logs are not about browsing, but about communicating intimately.

Then what is the fascination with mobile browsing? I want mobile cognecting, sharing, finding, interacting.

I
admitted to Franklin that I really don’t think it’s about full access
to Web content, but full access to Web services. I think a full browser
on a mobile phone that enables browsing of full Web sites is nice. It’s
part of a continuum from simple sites that are mobile-savvy, to
mobile-friendly (they don’t break on a mobile browser), to all the
millions of old and current sites that ignore the mobile.
And, it’s surely a better option than .mobi
(which Franklin and I didn’t discuss) and maybe transcoders (which we
did discuss and Franklin is aware of the legal issues brought up by
Scott Rafer and Dave Harper).

Furthermore,
my head lately has been in low-end, mass-market phones with simpler
browsers, so full browsing is not part of my daily thoughts. On my
mind, when it comes to the mobile browser, are the kind of services,
like Winksite, that create a helping
intermediary between the capabilities of my phone and the services I
want to reach. On my mind, is not the 10s of million S60 phones, but
the 100s of millions basic phones with no access to Web services.

Words of wisdom
Franklin and I have had many discussions of this sort over the past years and I can sometimes see his influence in my thoughts. Nonetheless,
it pleased me when, once again, it turned out we were of the same mind
– his vision is to have the best mobile browser out there so that
mobiles no longer have to be second-class citizens on the Web, so that
mobile users can interact with all the services out there, so that, as more
mobiles actively and interactively use the Web, the Web will have to
become mobile-savvy.

He envisions a two-prong approach of 1)
evangelizing this versatile browser and what it can do – convincing
folks to become mobile-savvy, and 2) increase the numbers of mobile
phones accessing the Web in general – to wake people up to the rapidly
growing numbers of phones accessing their sites and hence convince folks to become mobile-savvy.

And,
in response to some of my desires as to how I would like to interact
with the Web from my mobile (and not just browse), he let me in on some
current and future developments. I’m not sure what is public of not, so
just a tease right now – sorry. Suffice it to say, Franklin is part of
a cool team that has a long-term vision of how mobile phones will
interact with Web services in the future.

Model holding steady
I can still say that I am not so keen on mobile browsing. Nonetheless, my idea of
the mobile Web is well within the plans Franklin and the browser
team have. Indeed, the browser team is not really building a browser, but a
tool to interact with the Web, with the same freedom and flexibility I
have from my PC.

Maybe Franklin and team should no longer call it a ‘browser’, that’s too
passive and misleading, considering their vision. What could it be
called? Hmm. 🙂

*I call a ‘blindspot’ anything I don’t get or
think others don’t get, basically trying understand why I don’t agree
with the general consensus. Click here for other blindspots I have
written about. Sadly, I have a long list of other blindspots of mine
that I still want to write about.