Mike Rowehl: This is Mobility

One of the overall themes at Mobile 2.0 was some people saying “the browser is the most important thing to pay attention to in the future development of mobility.” Which was normally followed up by someone else saying “Hey! Mobility isn’t all about just making the web mobile.” I’m not sure that the common ground there was ever really found, despite the fact that both sides had only slightly different takes in reality.

The “browser is the most important thing” folks don’t want to just take the normal web and jam it down. They’re also interested in how to expose device native functionality to browser based applications. It’s not that what browsers do today should be the only way we interact with mobiles, but that the patterns, models, and methods that have made web based applications rapidly evolve would be great to emulate in mobile. That doesn’t mean that other methods of mobile development don’t exist, or that all the mobiles should be are scaled down web browsers. But that the best way to grow the ecosystem and find the fantastic mobile applications is to crack open the development model the way the web has gone.

And just because the browser is the most important thing that doesn’t mean that all of mobility is about making the web mobile. “Most important” does not mean sole and only area of possible improvement. Sure, there’s plenty more to mobile than the web. But the web makes interesting things happen cause it’s built on standards that are for the most part beyond the control of manufacturers, software vendors, and carriers. Access to address book/contacts functions was something that came up over and over, some folks even started kicking around the idea of forming some kind of alliance around standardizing open access to contacts. Even if the browser isn’t the way to standardize access to these functions, I think the web could provide the model for how to get to a standard when we don’t already have one.

The next revision of the internet tablet from Nokia, the N810 looks like one sexy beast. I certainly hope they manage to get this out into retail outlets quick, seeing as how Nokia can’t manage to sell me things online. I did actually consider for a while if my disgust should extend to the Linux devices as well, but I don’t think I have to do that. After all, selling something like a laptop is “much different than selling an unlocked phone” according to NokiaUSA. I wonder if selling an internet tablet is more like selling a phone or like selling a laptop? I bet that discussion could get pretty meta pretty quickly. Doesn’t matter though, I want me an N810, I just know where I’m definitely NOT going to try getting it from.

One of my main concerns is that the dpad seems to be on the slider and just the back and home buttons are on the side when the slider is collapsed. The way I have opera on my N800 configured I use the dpad a lot. Just easier to activate links on pages with small type and close spacing. I’m concerned about how that might work out with the pad on the inside. Still looks like a minor annoyance when compared to a well positioned camera, full keyboard, and 2gig of memory. Oh baby. I’m not sure I would say it makes the iPhone look 5 years old though. Seeing as how it lacks a, you know, phone. Kinda essential feature they keep leaving out on these things. I bet all the folks at the NRC in Palo Alto have a lot to say about that, maybe someone should ask them what they think. Hmm, maybe?

I presented AdMob at a previous >Play conference, now I’ve been invited back to moderate a panel on mobile at the upcoming conference on Oct 27th. The conversation at the last event was fantastic, and even when I don’t go to the event itself I always see great posts popping up around it. Check out this lineup for the panel I’m moderating:

• Rick Robinson - VP of Products and Services, Xohm - Sprint
• Ramin Vatanparast - Senior Research Manager: Context, Communities and Collaboration - Nokia
• Steve Lee - Product Manager, Google Mobile - Google
• Evan Tana - Director of Product Marketing – Loopt
• Jeff Sellinger - VP Mobile - CBS

The other panels look just as fantastic. I’m think I’m going to do the Marketing and New Media panel in the second round and catch fellow AdMobster Niren Hiro lay down some knowledge, and then hit Entrepreneurial Perspectives in Digital Media for the final track. If you’re stopping by as well come and say hello. Until then, there’s a blog setup where some preparatory conversation will be happening.

Yesterday was the Mobile 2.0 event I helped to organize in San Francisco. This was our second time running the event, and I think we learned a lot. This year the event flowed a lot better. Our policy of not allowing slides when doing panel introductions kept things moving along a lot better and kept the audience much more interested. Here’s a bunch of resources from the event:

• We had a Jaiku channel going for discussion during the event.
• Rudy created a Flickr group and has posted a Mobile 2.0 wrapup of his own.
• Richard MacManus (who I somehow managed to miss meeting yet again) posted a few items live:
  • Mobile 2.0 - The 7th Mass Media & Business Opportunities
  • Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 1
  • Mobile 2.0 Launch Pad Part 2
  • Taptu Launches New Type of Mobile Search
• Oliver posted live on blognation, and provides a summary of the launchpad companies.
• Barbara Ballard posted about how many in the audience were using laptops.
• Tony Fish pointed out the Mobile Web 2.0 list of resources setup in netvibes.
• Kelly Goto has a detailed post from the fireside chat.
• A few people pointed to the Forum Oxford discussion groups, which you can sign up to for free, just use ‘forumoxford’ as the … something. I signed up a while ago, so I forget how the registration process works. But you can do it even if you’re not in courses. It’s a discussion group that pulls in a lot of great minds.
• Daniel Graff gave a fantastic compelling demo of Kyte.tv, something I’ll have to play around with for Mobile Monday events.
• Dennis from WAPReview has an amazing writeup covering absolutely everything top to bottom.
• Rob Tiffany posted about the lack of mentions of WinMo and CEO sums up why that is: focus shifting from platforms to applications. I think it’s cute that Rob thinks the reason there was no mention of WinMo is because we’re undereducated about it. No, I know what WinMo does, I just don’t care. Happy to talk about what MS can do to become relevant again in this space though.
• Atakan Cetinsoy from MyStrands posted his take on participating in the disruptive business models panel.
• Russ McGuire from the fireside chat posted his take on the mobile internet versus mobility, pointing out that mobility is not just making the internet mobile.

Some highlights of the day:

• Voytek Siewierski saying he was looking for companies that would destroy the business models the operators have, that woke everyone up right after lunch.
• Pat McVeigh’s comment that “Usability is the ultimate enabler.” He was also another big fan of open source, which I was very happy to see. And believes the browser is going to be the way forward for mobile applications.
• Russ Daniels made a number of points about use of mobility and generally just connectivity in the enterprise. There was a lot of commentary about the enterprise still being very much untapped. In particular Russ made some comments about the presence of wifi networks during a business meeting pretty much meaning you could read email while being bored. The presence of that network should facilitate greater productivity and cooperation during the meeting, but the tools that support that are very sparse.
• The point that Tomi made about Flirtomatic now being one of Britains leading florists. They allow sending virtual roses between users, and the numbers are staggering. Selling virtual goods within their service was enough that they were able to remove the subscription fee. Great success story.
• The emerging technologies panel I participated in was fantastic, it was great having a dedicated hour to hash out some ideas with that group. The overall themes were that open platforms, open tools, and open APIs have been a lot of what’s driving the growth so far, and still seems like the best way forward.
• Rudy gave a fantastic intro, including a slide summarizing Google’s move into mobile that he collaborated on with and has opened for further refinement

I tried ordering an N95 from the NokiaUSA site on Thursday, and canceled the order today. They had placed it on hold (it was supposed to arrive yesterday actually, but I was at Mobile 2.0, more about that later). I never got a notification or anything, but when I went to the site to check on the delivery info I saw that the order status was “requires customer contact”. Not nice, I would have expected an email or a call.

So I called up, they transferred me around, and then asked me another set of questions about where my sister owns property. They asked me a different invasive round online, now I had to do it live over the phone. Unfortunately I have no idea where my sisters own property, there are three of them and they’re almost as unpredictable as me. So screw it, I canceled the order. For a company that produces a few billion handsets a year, or whatever that number is, you think they would also understand how to get them out into the market.

I was even nice enough to wait through the 10 minute hold to speak to a manager about how the order process broke down for me. Not to get my order completed, I just wanted to be a nice citizen and help Nokia learn why they can’t get units out into the US market. He wasn’t interested though, he just wanted to tell me that ordering an unlocked phone in the US is different then ordering a laptop or other high ticket item. Is it? That’s a new one to me.

So Nokia, and I know there are a few of you out there reading this, this is your final message from me. I hope you can get your crap together around internet services in the US in a way you haven’t been able to get your handset business together (Hi Charlie! Good luck!). Personally, I’m waiting for the next OpenMoko spin to upgrade my phone. I feel kinda bad bashing the online store after Nokia NSeries was a big sponsor of Mobile 2.0, but surprisingly not that bad. I put in the effort, even was willing to upgrade to a phone I’m not that sure about just to see if my opinions could be shifted. But I think I’ve been jerked around enough to legitimately call it quits.

There’s a great bit from Rainbows End that hit me just right:

“Back when I was young, you could have got a patent off it. Nowadays –”

Xiu patted Tommie’s shoulder. “Nowadays, it should be worth a decent grade in a high school class.”

Skimming through my newsreader this morning and not bothering to pause at a single one of the hundred and whatever articles reminded me of it. Seems like things have gotten a big bland lately. Google and Verizon fighting over the 700MHz spectrum, Apple backlash and their closed platform, application after application after application after application that all do pretty much the same thing - none of which I can really put my finger on and never make it into my normal rotation of use. I even stopped reading my email on Sunday cause there’s just never anything in there except people yelling at me for random shit.

Where’s the big stuff? Where are my fuel cells? Where’s my open operating system based wearable computer? Virtual display? Gesture based interface? Intelligent agents? What have things come to that Apple releasing a big touchscreen based phone in the US market is “A Revolution in Mobility”? It’s enough to make me feel bored and sluggish, and that’s never good for anyone. Particularly me. I tend to do stupid things just to see what’ll happen. Please, someone, do something and save me from myself.

Charles Stross just posted that his most recent book is available in the US now. Perfect timing, I just finished Rainbows End this weekend. Of course my copy of Halting State is on it’s way already, thank you Amazon. Don’t forget, Charlie is in the Bay Area on the 12th.