Mobile Browsers

Research Seminar on Telecommunications Business

T-109.7510

Janne Hakola

Mika Lahti

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Mobile Browsers - Introduction

Development of browsers Not only WAP, but also

Internet Challenges for devices

Challenges for browsers

.mobi suffix to identify mobile web www.tkk.mobi How to remember?

Introduction - Browsing

Recent study showed the importance of mobile browsing 63% of packet data usage

Participants were early adopters

Indicates good success for mobile browsing

Source: Feller 2005

Distribution of Packet Data Usage by Services

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Technology and Standards

How to access Web content? Direct access

PC-content -> mobile Rendering at mobile Consumes bandwidth

Source: modified from Lawton 2001

How to access?

WAP gateway/proxy Server to convert HTML-> WML or

xHTML Servers renders the page

No need for mobile to compute Less data to be sent

Faster

Source: OneUpWeb 2005

How to access?

Caching One-way

Content is first downloaded to device’s cache Download magazine to read it later

Bidirectional User makes some offline changes to the

content and synchronizes the content with gateway

Sales representative

Technology and Standards

Wireless Application Protocol - WAP Markup language and a transport

protocol for small device usage Manufacturer-, vendor-, and technology-

independent Early hype and exaggerated claims WAP is in key role to realize mobile

browsing and its widening success

Markup Languages for Mobile Browsing

At the beginning everyone had their own language International agreements (WAP forum) -> common

language WAP 2.0 defines xHTML Mobile Profile (xHTML MP) and

WAP CSS as standards Benefits for

Mobile Browser Content providers Users

Technicality-issues Several browsers

Source: Openwave 2006

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Success Factors Content

Amount of mobile web content varies between countries

Japan, iMode (mobile web) Europe, mobile web and HTML web U.S., HTML web through PDA

Mobile devices can access HTML Web content -> No lack of content

No mobile web content – no users More users browsing – more content

Success Factors

Price Traffic tariff + content price Content with a price tag

Easy payment should be possible Easy access at later time

Content without a price tag (Web) Flat rate is preferred Pricing by bits

Web content usually contains ads – Who is willing to pay for them?

-> Menu | No pictures-> Browsing is not like in PC-Internet - bad for mobile browsing

Usability

Three layers of mobile browsing Holistic experience for the user

Should work with all types of content Easy to use solution is likely to get success Different solutions to display web pages

Narrow layout Browsing on Mobile Phones by Virpi Roto

Minimap

Source: Roto

Success Factors

Bandwidth When WAP was introduced, bandwidth was

limiting content Nokia 7110 - support for 14,4 kbps GSM (!) data

transmission Today, with EDGE, data rates up to 384 kbps

And of course 3G PC with modem connection, only 56 kbps Mobile content need’s less bandwidth -> Mobile browsing should be at acceptable

level with current bandwidth

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Possibilities for Different Players – End Users There could be identified two groups

Need-it-now consumers Accessed when they need some service or

information Killing-time users

waiting for example buss and use time to find information they need in future or just use entertainment services

Makes possible to reach Web content anywhere Banking in summer cottage etc.

Possibilities for Different Players – Operators Mobile browsing generates 63% of

packet data traffic (Jan Feller) Forecast good success for mobile browsing Good revenue opportunity for operators

SIM-based billing Identified through SIM card and after the use

of the third party service operator adds service fee to user’s phone bill

Revenue for operators by taking care of billing

Nokia Kanavat

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Solutions and Business Strategies Mobile browser vendor strategies

User-installable mobile browsers Default browsers used by major

mobile phone and PDA vendors User-installable solutions: Opera

Supports all current standards CSS2, JavaScript, Ajax, WML, and XHTML

Obtains Web content directly to device

Solutions and Business Strategies – Opera / mini

SSR (Small Screen Rendering) mode in browser Need quite a lot ram -> used mostly in PDA or

smart phone devices Commercial / License fee

Opera mini Launched in January 2006 Low- and mid-end handheld devices Communicates with Opera’s proxy servers

which re-process page before sending it to the phone

Solutions and Business Strategies – Opera / mini

Available for free Company offers branded and

customized versions for operators and content providers

Co-operation with Google Default search function in Opera mini

Solutions and Business Strategies – Series 60 Browser / Pocket IE

Default browsers used by major mobile phone and PDA vendors: Series 60 browser Standard component of Symbian S60

Platform Based on open source components

(WebCore and JavaScriptCore) Main innovation Minimap feature

Solutions and Business Strategies – Closed Content Browsers Browsers which can be used only to

browse limited content Nokia’s Kanavat multimedia browser

Launched 28.11.2005 User can only browse content that is specially

designed to Kanavat browser All Finland’s biggest medias creates content

to Kanavat browser (MTV3, Yle, Helsingin Sanomat)

Browser is available for free via Nokia’s Web site

Nokia also includes this Kanavat browser in new mobile phone packets

Content

MOBILE

BROWSERS

Technology and Standards

Success Factors

Possibilities for Different Players

Solutions and Business Strategies

Conclusions

Conclusions Industry is currently moving from situation

with many different standards, technologies and vendors towards the times with fewer players dominating the field

Only six percent of 3G mobile users accessed Internet with their 3G devices in Finland (Elisa)

Only early adopters use mobile browsing in Finland The best vendor strategy for mobile browser

software is to pre-install it into the device Easy, only small minority of users downloads and

installs software from the Web to their mobile devices

Mobile Browsers

Thank you for listening!

Questions?