what the heck

This blog is all about the mobile Internet. I just thought that it might be a good idea to share my thoughts and views on this topic, as I happen to work in this Industry. We at Twinapex
develop mobile Internet sites for our clientele, whom are mostly using our services to publish their content to mobile users. Some of them do actually make money on the content itself (premium content), others use the mobile medium to advertise their products or services.

I've personnally been in the mobile industry since 1997 when I joined a small Finnish software company. That was the time when "mobile" was still equal to text messages. I actually did in co-operation with my first employer, my final thesis on the quite new phenomenon called "WAP" (Wireless Application Proptocol". It was basically a study on the commercial opportunities of this thing called WAP, and it was approved by my professor back in December 1997. Heck. It may have been the first scientific publication on this matter, actually. The whole term was introduced not earlier than June 1997 (if I remember correctly).

The world has changed a lot from those days (11 years). The first WAP phones were still using GSM data call as the way to connect to the network. All of the phones just had black and white (or black and green) displays and there were manufacturers whose phones did not support SMS! Surfing the net was pretty similar experience as it was with the first Internet browser I used (Mosaic on an unix workstation at the university). Still, I thought back those days that this mobile thing will be something BIG in the future. You could just tell it from the feeling that you got when you were able to get something on your phone's display from your server connected to the Internet.

Today, my Nokia E90 is perfectly capable of fetching and rendering a page from the Internet in no time. I have (flat rate) 2 Mbit/s data subscription, and it actually does deliver me the 2Mbit/s most of the time. The world is now ready for all the companies to publish their content for the mobile audience. And, of course, for all the regular Joes out there to start using the services in the mobile Internet.

I will write on this blog on my observations of the mobile Internet as it is currently in a rapid groth. Just heard someone claiming today that in Finland, Google would get more mobile searches than fixed Internet searches already this year. I think it is bull, but possibly not that far away from the truth.