Brian Fling on Canada’s mobile web landscape
Brian Fling, author of the dotmobi Mobile Web Developers Guide, delivered a talk at Web Directions North today about the mobile web landscape in Canada and elsewhere. Across the world, mobile access is revolutionizing the way people access and interact with information in the next two years. Except in Canada, where Fling said the transition will take five years.
The 3 C’s of the mobile web are Cost, Content and Context, and balancing those goals is where you find the mobile web’s “sweet spot,” Fling said. Cost means if you don’t design a site with a mobile user in mind, that user could unwittingly get a big phone bill. Navigation, image sizes and page weight all become more important as content concerns on a mobile device. And context on a phone is much different than when a user is sitting in front of a computer.
some of the benefits of mobile phones is that it is the first truly personal mass media, as well as being always-on and always-carried. It’s also the only mass media with its own payment channel. Payment by cell phone hasn’t taken hold in North America, but in Japan cell phones can be used as mobile wallets.
In fact, Fling said he thought the web is on the cusp of major transformation, driven by mobile devices, and pushed forward by Google, Apple and Opera software. Apple especially has captured the imagination of people as to the possibilities of the mobile web.
But what of Canada, or as Fling said, “what is the the deal with Canada!?!” Canada’s slow wireless growth is due to relatively cheap landlines, which slowed demand for wireless. 67 percent of Canadian homes have a mobile phone, which is actually low compared to the rest of the world.
Growth in Canada is only nine percent per year, and based on past and present growth rates, it could take Canada five more years to reach the market penetration of other countries.
With new spectrum being auctioned off, there is some hope that Canada’s wireless landscape will see some progress, but restrictive regulations that don’t allow foreign competition may again cripple the Canadian market. Fling said unless there’s change, Canada will continue to lag. Right now the three main wireless carriers are dominating different segments of the market, and as a result the total market is stagnating.
January 31, 2008 | 11:10 pm
That was just some rehashed info from the last time I heard this guy. Plus iPhone, iPhone, iPhone. No real insights though.
February 5, 2008 | 11:47 am
I don’t know what it’s like in other countries, but it seems like the everyday-useful features that motivate one to buy a cell phone have plateaued. You have to wonder about the iPhone effect. Are some sitting and waiting for it to come rather than invest in/commit to something inferior long-term?
February 5, 2008 | 2:57 pm
Hi Mikah,
Many folks are coming to the whole issue of the mobile web for the first time right now, so Brian’s brief from us was to talk about the lay of the land - both generally, and specifically in the context of Canada. So, if the mobile web is really your thing, it’s likely you’ll find a lot of it a bit 101 - but that’s always going to be the case in any session where you are knowledgeable.
The iPhone has really changed the game for the mobile web - so it’s not a huge surprise it comes up a lot.