Designs on the mobile internet

The mobile internet: so what are we talking about here? A scaled down version of a website we can view on our phones?

In some cases yes. But that would miss the point.

Some old media has worked well on the web. From the FT to Empire online, there are content sites that have added value by being online. But the best websites have been a creation of the medium.

So the mobile internet must create its own success stories if it’s going to succeed.

The future of the mobile internet may well be certain sites scaled down to be a more readable and useable display for mobile.

But all mobile internet sites must grasp design and expectation issues. In other words; how will it look and what can I do when I get there.

An example would be a travel site. It may be able to sell a specific air ticket for a specific time through mobile. But users are unlikely to sell a holiday that needs research or a package tour that isn’t about wanting a ticket to fly right now.

Content sites will need to take a view on how they use the mobile internet. YouTube have an excellent mobile site. But do users want to trawl through the thousand mile-wide content offering, with iffy clips and dodgy quality? The user experience on mobile is too confined to have an aimless wander through oodles of web pages. Better still would be a distilled mobile-designed version of YouTube - a ‘best of’, if you will, to give the mobile user a guaranteed 10 minutes of quality and fun.

In other words, the mobile internet needs to be more specific and more refined.

So what about the mobile user? What are they doing to bring this media to life?

Research shows mobile internet users are often not even aware they are using the mobile internet. In the UK, we have not escaped the walled garden of the UK operators with Vodafone Live, O2 Active or Orange World our guardians. Mobile web users associate cricket and football scores with a service from their operator rather than an independent offering.

And then there’s the wariness of those who have heard about – or worse still been stung - by over-zealous and possibly criminal subscription charges imposed by less-scrupulous content providers. Those mobile internet pirates designed the mobile internet to look like a safe jaunt and an easy download. Meanwhile the unsuspecting user got whacked for 20 quid.

Mobile internet publishers will need to be more open and have express clarity on any charges. And network operators must simplify their data rate charges.

Then the designers and publishers – who will add real value to the mobile content experience - can move in and make it a safer, more fun place.

That time is now.

Just keep thinking more specific and refined and you’re there.