The Mobile Web

As any users of iPhone know, the mobile Web is a fast-growing area that seems to have no ceiling. Devices like the iPhone and the Palm Pre have enabled full-Web-page viewing on small devices without much sacrifice in the user experience. In fact, a question could be posed ... if someone views an ad on nytimes.com on their iPhone, is that mobile advertising, even if it's the "full" Web page? Mobile advertising is traditionally considered as those microscopic banner ads on a cell phone's search tool.

Nielsen recently released some figures about mobile Web usage. Some of the more interesting findings were:

• U.S. people 65+ and teens are the fastest growing users of mobile Web.
• U.S. People 35-54 are the biggest users of mobile Web.
• Top mobile Web site for U.S. women = People
• Top mobile Web site for U.S. Men = Gizmodo

Back to the mobile Web on the iPhone a moment, while I do appreciate the full-Web-page browsing on the iPhone (sans Flash), I appreciate even more those companies that create WAP-enabled versions of their site. Even better -- the iPhone-specific Web sites. Below are some of the better ones I've seen that are the great on the iPhone. (Note- these are the mobile versions, so they won't seem great on a regular browser.)

• Bank of America
• Fandango
• Food Network
• Weather Channel
• ebay

Some of these sites, like Fandango and ebay, took the next step and created even better experiences with their custom iPhone apps.