Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
manufactures hesitate about including the features
in new devices.
Internet players such as Yahoo and Google,
by providing their own devices, may take the
advantage of integrating hardware and services
to deliver an optimized user experience and un-
derstand the user's interests better (Jones, 2007).
The Apple's iPhone has shown how successful
integrated hardware and services may be.
Forrester Research suggests that a new category
of consumer devices that blend the best of the PC,
wireless, and web to deliver a superior mobile
Internet experience is needed (Jackson, 2007).
Gartner predicts that although cellular handsets
will dominate through 2011, the mobile web will
extend onto devices such as Ultra Mobile PCs
(Jones, 2007).
about unreliable connections and security issues.
This study points out the importance of extending
geographical coverage of 3G networks and im-
proving speed and reliability of connections. Lu et
al. (2008) have studied mobile Internet adoption
in China. They also found data security concerns
and they emphasize mobile trust as a key factor
affecting user adoption of mobile services.
Apart from bandwidth aspects, mobile net-
works can also add to a better mobile Internet
user experience by providing enabling services
such as payment platforms or location informa-
tion to 3rd parties.
Browsers and Proxies
The number of different mobile browsers may
decrease via standardization efforts but on the
other hand the number of browsers may increase as
the number of Internet-capable devices increases.
The variety of browsers is a challenge for service
providers who should provide content accessible
by all the different browsers.
Quite a few mobile web browsers can access
standard web content that was originally designed
for large-screen viewing. The browsers adapt the
content to make it more suitable for handheld
access (Jones & Marsden, 2006). Adaptation
can be implemented as server-side, client-side
or intermediate adaptation (Laakko & Hiltunen,
2005). Algorithms used to transform the content
of web pages into smaller units making it suitable
for viewing on small-screen mobile devices typi-
cally fall into four categories (Schilit et al., 2002):
Scaling, Manual Authoring, Transducing and
Transforming. Web page transformation, whether
at the site or at the browser level, can be grouped
into three broad transformation categories: Direct
Migration, Linear and Overview (MacKay et al.,
2004) (Figure 4).
These technologies face challenges due to
increasing website complexity, use of JavaScript,
browser differences, lack of useful device data
and failing compliance with standards (Moore,
Networks
In the fixed network world consumers have got
used to xDSL download speeds with up to 16
Mbit/s. Where mobile networks run on GPRS
technology they merely reach 56 kbit/s which
not only results in a slow service but moreover
is not sufficient for a lot of applications, such as
streaming video. While in some rural areas EDGE
(up to 384 kbit/s) might remain the maximum
broadband mobile network, in regions with a
higher population density there will be more and
more 3G and 3.5G (HSPA) networks available with
7.2 Mbit/s downstream capability since operators
are continuously adding bandwidth to enable
new services. In regions where the spectrum is
limited, capacity will moreover be increased with
additional metro-area wireless networks, such as
WiMAX (70 Mbit/s for up to 50 km distance), a
further development of WLAN (Jones, 2007).
In a focus group study carried out in China
and in six European countries (IUP, 2008), current
users of the mobile Internet mentioned unreli-
able connections as well as network security as
obstacles for using transaction services in China,
Italy and France. Also non-users were concerned
Search WWH ::
Custom Search