W3C gets proactive with Mobile Web Initiative

“Web access today is so fundamental, that it shouldn’t be hampered by wires,” said Philipp Hoschka, W3C’s deputy director for Europe. “Through this initiative, we’re committed to improving the state of the art in mobile Web content production and mobile access.”

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) formally launched the Mobile Web Initiative at its WWW2005 Conference in Chiba, Japan, on Wednesday, putting out a call for participants to join two working groups focused on making Web access from mobile devices as natural and easy as making a telephone call.

The W3C has made a concerted effort towards improving the mobile Web experience, and in November hosted a two-day workshop in Barcelona on the topic. Companies such as Vodafone Group PLC, Nokia Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) presented over 40 position papers and around 100 people took part in discussions on making Web surfing as convenient and ubiquitous over devices like mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants) as it is over the desktop.

“It became clear in Barcelona that people have big problems in accessing the Web from mobile devices,” Hoschka said. “What was impressive was that the whole mobile industry was there, representing all of its various components, and they all seemed to agree that we need to collectively do something.”

The Emissary Take Away: In the medium term, Internet Ubiquity – The Martini Effect. Connect anytime, anywhere, from any device. In the short term, making web content or applications available on portable devices will require bespoke customisation for each platform selected, and may require organisations to standardise on one or a small number of platforms for internal access. With Pocket PCs becoming more widespread, this facilitates the growth of Internet Ubiquity, although mobile phones and other mobile phone hybrids will need a little more work and time to catch up.

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