Mobile Web 2.0: The One People Will Use

It's pretty easy to get bogged down in the definition of "Mobile Web 2.0", and to try and use particular technologies to establish a baseline and some boundaries for it. In my mind, though, technology is just a means to an end, and Mobile Web 2.0 will be the mobile web that people actually use. Key to this isn't just enabling new technologies on handsets, but rather using whatever technology is available to deliver a great user experience.

The mobile industry's tripped over itself before by trying to market technologies to its customers: think back to how it pushed "WAP" and "MMS", a couple of TLAs that didn't resonate with any normal folk. The technology is irrelevant to Joe Public; it's not important to him how something works, he's only concerned with what he can do. This isn't to say that the technology isn't important, just that it's largely irrelevant to the end user. This is reflected in the task-oriented nature of how we use mobile devices. I send a text because I want to communicate; I look at a mobile web site to get a sports score or to check my friends' updates; I take a photo to share it.

So Mobile Web 2.0 isn't about pushing new technologies into handsets and networks, especially if the main goal of those technologies is to replicate the desktop web experience on the PC. Mobile Web 2.0 is about rethinking (or, in many cases, just thinking) about what it is mobile users want -- what task or goal they want to achieve -- and how best to deliver it to them. Your site or service isn't "2.0" because you use Flash or some widget platform, it's 2.0 because you will have put some thought into what you offer and how it's designed, making
choices based on what's best for the user experience, not based on the underlying technology.

I realize that adding new functionality and capabilities to devices and networks plays a role here. We're at a tipping point where mobile technology is truly becoming an enabler, rather than a limiter of great user experiences, and for that to continue, device functionality must continue to grow, to the point where developers and designers no longer need to worry if something is possible on a mobile device and can focus on how best to deliver it. But the experience has to be
paramount, and I worry that technology will again become the dominant force in the discussion.

We need to worry less about implementing specific technologies so we can be all 2.0, and more about the user experience we want to deliver, about what we want people to be able to do.

Carlo Longino
MobHappy