Mobile phones and the web

I'm a bit of a Luddite when it comes to mobile phones and the web. But that's all changing now, as I am experiencing what really looks and feels like the web, on a real working mobile phone.

My daughter has a new Sidekick, a mobile phone with unlimited Internet browsing on a monthly contract. It looks like this:



And it overcomes most of the objections I had to the old mobile web:

• it let's you look at the whole real Internet, not just some motley collection of WAP pages
• it actually looks like real web pages
• it has a screen my 40-something year old eyes can read
  
• it has a real (if tiny) keyboard
  

The first thing I did was look at my own web page, and I was pleased to see it looked pretty good on the Lilliputian screen. Why? Because all along we've been beating the valid code and accessibility drum, and that makes it work.

And having avoided the mobile marketplace for so long, there is lots to discover. Its been a real eye opener catching up with the rest of the mobile world, and here some reading I've been doing in anticipation of developing a new workshop:

• What are people searching using their mobiles? Cinemas, supermarkets, pizza, hotels, and... Halfords. You go figure. Take a look at m-spatial's local search brands.
  
• Work we all need to do regarding Google's mobile sitemaps
• The rollout of mobile search servies, like Yahoo's OneSearch or MSN's Live Search for Mobile
  

Anyway, keep your eyes open for more announcements coming from the Hallam camp in terms of mobile marketing.