Mobile Sites For 3G Smart Phones

When cell phones first appeared in the 1990s, no one had an inkling that they would grow like gangbusters to number 5 billion and one day dominate The Internet and the world wide web. But it's happening now with total digital convergence and miniaturization.

These lifestyle trend setters are able to provide so many services, thanks to technology giants like Apple and Google, that the mobile web is rapidly out pacing the office web which only a few years back demanded the surfer had access to a cumbersome desktop computer, be it an IBM compatible PC or an Apple Mac.

Various new smart phones mushroomed with the appearance of 3G wireless networks: the innovative iPhone, the BlackBerry Bold, Palm OS and then the open source Google Android which is designed to be a web developer's dream -- ushering in a brave new future of The Miniaturized Internet -- all packaged like a microwaveable meal and ready to go!

These new 3G smart phones are so advanced in their operating system software that they can browse all manner of dynamic web pages, integrate with GPS coordinates to find the nearest eating houses and hotel accommodation, sort and read email, help you to play advanced java games, awaken you with Top 100 polyphonic digital music, take your picture and record video clips of any action in the city street you're wandering along.

But that's not an exhaustive list because I now remember watching TV on a dual sim card mobile phone and listening to either MP3 music of my choice or broadcast FM radio! All of the above is the true meaning of 'digital convergence.'       

The users of these advanced third generation, or 3G mobile handsets are devouring so much digital information and bandwidth that TelCo giants and Internet search engines know that the race is now well and truly on to provide the entertainment channels, the GPS maps, the sports, news and weather, the stock market data -- everything that the consumer wants, instantly!

There is probably a shortage right now of web sites that are optimized specifically for the screen sizes of cell phones that can be properly classed as 'smart phones.' There are many 'feature phones' which can browse the web using WAP protocols, but which lack the advanced computing power of, say, the Apple iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy, or the BlackBerry Torch or Pearl 3G. There is a world of difference between a base model Nokia or Motorola almost  given away with a pre-paid plan, and an up market smart phone costing as much as a modern day laptop or notebook computer.

Yes, the newest gold rush has started. It is the construction of monetized 'mobile web' properties to entertain and to meet the information needs of the emerging third generation mobile phone users -- and the pace is frighteningly frenetic!