Comments on: iPhone Spurs Mobile Web Usage

By: ToingToing » ToingToing! What digital divide?!

ToingToing » ToingToing! What digital divide?! — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 12:46:55 +0000

[...] 1. Dan’s Blog (2.0) » iPhone Spurs Mobile Web Usage 2. Opera: Mobile web usage continues to rise worldwide 3. Mobile web usage grows nearly 30% in Q2 4. Mobile Web Usage Up 29 Percent; Carrier-Driven Traffic Continues… 5. Mobile Web Use Growing Faster than Ever [...]

By: The end of the digital devide | Marklives.com

The end of the digital devide | Marklives.com — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:08:17 +0000

By: Vero Pepperrell

Vero Pepperrell — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:43:11 +0000

A few weeks ago, waiting for my flight to Dallas to take off, I had a conversation with an old American and his British wife, neither of them techy at all. They owned a thumbdrive-style mp3 player (that their grand-daughter gave them as a hand-me-down when she bought an iPod) and an old minidisc player.

I handed them my iPhone and an iPod Nano to play with and while they’d never really used a computer before, they quickly grasped the concept of browsing music (like records on a shelf, he said), accessing mail and checking out the web.

They were the best test subjects I could’ve asked for, neither familiar with Windows or OS X, starting from scratch. By the end of our wait on the runway, they’d decided to get an iPod Touch and potentially get a computer for home.

I think you’re right, Dan, the chasm has been crossed and the masses will soon be adopting the mobile web. So I hope, anyways! :)

By: Daniel Appelquist

Daniel Appelquist — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:27:02 +0000

Well… I didnt say she got much further than that. But she definitely knew what she was doing – because she’s seen us do it on the desktop Mac enough to understand “this is the icon for Web… This is how you get to a web site…” etc… Once she got there she was a little lost. :)

By: david cushman

david cushman — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:47:18 +0000

Still relies on your 3-year-old typing though. Not sure mine can do that yet. But she can speak. Half of the world can’t type. They can all (apologies to the dumb) speak. in a more semantic (pics, sounds, people. less text document heavy) web would your thinking about search change?

By: Justin Thorp

Justin Thorp — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 22:56:06 +0000

When I’m out and about my iPhone has been my best friend. It gives me quick access to anything and everything I want. Most of the top Web sites that I wanna access have made iPhone-optimized Web sites for it also.

By: John West

John West — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 02:58:54 +0000

I agree completely.

Further, I think that Mobile Safari will really kick the Mobile Web into gear.

The issue with mobile web has always been a “chicken and egg” problem. It won’t take off until it’s already taken off.

Mobile Safari is a great bridge between the “real Internet” and the mobile web because plain-jane websites work as expected in Mobile Safari, but it isn’t optimal. iPhone users will start expecting an experience that fits their device, and BOOM! the mobile web is kick-started.

In a lot of ways, this situation reminds me of when Apple kick-started USB by making it the main expansion port on the iMac.

Of course, SJ failed at getting FireWire accepted so it’s probably best to not generalize Apple’s successes. However, I think this situation is more similar to the USB case.