iPhone 3G and the Mobile Web

Apple announced the iPhone 3G at WWDC a few days ago and I have been obsessing over it ever since. I know I am not going to be able to afford one anytime soon, but that is not the point. The point is what this thing represents.

The real internet, the actual web, not some stripped down WAP version, is going to be in everyone's pocket.

Mobile Internet Before the iPhone

Let me tell you what mobile internet looks like for most of us right now. I have a Nokia phone with a small screen and a terrible browser. When I try to visit a website, it loads a "mobile version" that is basically just text with no formatting. Half the time it does not load at all. Most websites do not even bother making a mobile version because, honestly, why would they? The experience is so bad that nobody uses it.

There are some students in my college who have fancier phones with slightly better browsers, but even those are painful to use. You scroll around a zoomed out version of the page, trying to tap on tiny links with a stylus or a trackball. It is not browsing the web. It is fighting the web.

The first iPhone changed that. People who have used one say the browsing experience is actually good. You can pinch to zoom, scroll smoothly, and websites look like actual websites. The new iPhone 3G adds 3G networking, which means faster connections, and they dropped the price significantly.

Why This Matters for the Web

Here is what I have been thinking about. If millions of people start accessing the internet primarily through a phone, that changes what the internet needs to be.

Right now, most websites are designed for a computer screen. Big monitors, mice, keyboards. Nobody thinks about what their website looks like on a small touch screen because until now, it did not matter. Almost nobody browsed the web on a phone.

That is going to change. And when it does, web developers will need to think about mobile from the start. How does your layout work on a small screen? Can people tap on your buttons with their fingers instead of clicking with a mouse? Does your page load fast enough on a cellular connection?

I am just a student learning the basics of web development right now, but I feel like this is important to pay attention to. The skills that matter for building websites might be very different in a few years.

The App Store

Apple also announced something called the App Store, launching next month. Developers will be able to build applications specifically for the iPhone and sell them directly to users.

This is interesting for a completely different reason. It means the iPhone is not just a device; it is a platform. Like Windows is a platform, or Linux is a platform. Developers can build for it, and users can install whatever they want.

I have been wondering what kinds of applications people will build. Games, obviously. Productivity tools, probably. But I think the really interesting ones will be the applications nobody has thought of yet. The ones that take advantage of the fact that this device knows where you are, has a camera, connects to the internet, and is always with you.

What can you build when you have a computer in your pocket that knows your location? I do not think anyone fully understands the answer to that question yet.

The Divide

I want to be honest about something. Right now, this feels very far away from my daily life. I am a student, and most people around me are using basic phones. The iPhone costs more than what most families here spend on technology in an entire year.

But technology has a way of getting cheaper. What is expensive and exclusive today becomes affordable and widespread tomorrow. The features that make the iPhone special, the touch screen, the real web browser, the GPS, will eventually be in every phone. It might take a few years, but it will happen.

And when it does, the internet will truly be everywhere. Not just in offices and college computer labs and cybercafes, but in the hands of billions of people who have never sat in front of a desktop computer.

What I Am Thinking About

I have been reading a lot about web standards lately. HTML, CSS, JavaScript. The people building the web standards seem to understand that the web needs to work on different screen sizes and different devices. There is this concept of building websites that adapt to whatever device is viewing them. I think that is going to become incredibly important.

I also think this means JavaScript is going to become a much bigger deal than it already is. If you want to build interactive web experiences that work on both computers and phones, JavaScript is how you do it. I should probably start learning it seriously.

For now, I am watching from the sidelines. I cannot afford an iPhone, and I am still figuring out basic web development. But I am paying attention. The way people interact with the internet is changing, and I want to be ready when that change reaches where I am.

The future is mobile. I am more sure of that after this week than I have ever been.