The Mobile Web Is Dead? Not The One WE Are Creating… » mobilegroove

In-brief: The news that Russell Beattie has pulled the plug on Mowser speaks volumes about the state of the mobile Web. But is he right when he concludes: “The mobile traffic just isn’t there. It’s not there now, and it won’t be” ? Or has he – and the rest of us – overlooked exciting activity at the fringe of the mobile Web involving Generation Y, who sees the mobile as a social device first and an information device second? A closer look at a recent white paper from Taptu, a socially-assisted mobile search provider, may provide some answers. Download it here and let me know your thoughts…

Like many of us I was blown away by the news that Russell was giving up on Mowser, his transcoding startup that has just marked its first year this month. Russell failed to raise funding for his venture. But the root cause runs deeper than that and is inextricably linked with the spread of the mobile Web – or more accurately put, the failure of the mobile Web to make its mark.

As he put it: “I don’t actually believe in the “Mobile Web” anymore, and therefore am less inclined to spend time and effort in a market I think is limited at best, and dying at worst. I’m talking specifically about sites that are geared 100 percent towards mobile phones and have little to no PC Web presence. Two years ago I was convinced that the mobile Web would continue to evolve in the West to mimic what was happening in countries like Japan and Korea, but it hasn’t happened, and now I’m sure it isn’t going to.”

Russell is tired of wasting his time – and provides us with ample evidence to believe that “the mobile traffic just isn’t there. It’s not there now, and it won’t be.” But before jumping to this rash conclusion I urge us all to read Carlo Longino’s balanced assessment of this milestone over at MobHappy. He points out that the current “dumbed-down” mobile Web – chock-full of content rendered for lowest-common-denominator handsets – is most likely to blame. It’s this mindset/model that may be dead in the water – but never the mobile Web itself.

I’m inspired by Carlo’s conclusion: “…In my eyes, the rest of the “mobile Web” – delivering content and services that delight mobile users, is only getting started.”

In fact, it may be that the mobile Web is already alive and kicking – flourishing at the fringe and under our radar.

If this sounds overly optimistic, then let’s not forget how we measure the success/popularity of the mobile Web in the first place. Metrics related to “content consumption” are the main focus – and sadly indicative of our rather narrow-minded view of the core purpose of the mobile Web. We concentrate on commerce, not communication. Thus, we can’t see that Generation Y mobile users are long involved in an exciting exchange, building a mobile social Web that is personal, contextual, informative, engaging, and far superior to its PC counter-part.

I miss a discussion of this, so I’ll start one here.

Let’s begin with an examination of the ideas/concepts offered by Steve Ives, Taptu CEO, in his February white paper, Making search social: Unleashing search for the mobile generation. Granted, my work and views were quoted in this white paper, but that’s not my reason for highlighting it here. It is an essential read that documents the rise and impact of Generation Y users on what the mobile Web is and will be.

The paper argues the case for a mobile social Web and points out the shortcomings of an algorithmic-only approach to mobile search. Read between the lines and it’s clear that the nature of the mobile Web is changing – thanks to a new breed of mobile Web users focused on communication first and commerce second. As Steve puts it: Generation Y is focused on “the new “wow” factor …[that] connects them to their social networks and how it allows them to express themselves.” And the eye-opener: “The nature of search in this new world of mobile Internet devices will shift. This is because the journey that Generation Y is taking on the Internet is more concerned with social expression than finding information.”

Steve argues this is precisely where today’s mobile search engines fall down on the job. (I would broaden the discussion to the entire mobile Web…) In a nutshell, they perform poorly at tasks centered around:

• Finding a friend’s phone number

• Finding photos on Facebook

• Sharing a search result with a friend

• Finding new music your friends like

Steve concludes: “This may explain why Generation Y, who sees the mobile as a social device first and an information device second, is not using today’s mobile search as much as expected. But Generation Y is using mobile phones to access social networks.”

The mobile Web isn’t dead. However, it is our understanding of it that may be dead-wrong. The mobile Web (and mobile phones) may not present an optimum way of accessing information/content but they are a perfect fit with social networks and the social Web mobile users are creating on their terms and in tune with their context.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 at 5:52 pm and is filed under Mobile Marketing, Mobile Research, Mobile Search, Mobile Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.