People like surfing the web on their mobile...this surprises some people

They first started talking about this when I was still at University, they called in WAP…but WAP was CRAP. Fast forward ten years and we finally have a device and an interface that is capable of providing us with a positive mobile Internet experience…. even if we don’t have the data plans in some countries….big island in the southern hemisphere *cough*

But, news is that mobile Internet use is going through the roof while traditional PC access is slowing, at least that’s what the guys and gals at Nielsen say. I think this is UK data, but according to the findings over 7 million people jumped online using their mobiles during the latter half of 2008, representing an increase of 25 per cent for mobiles compared to a teeny-tiny 3 per cent increase for PC access. Another interesting fact is that 25 per cent of mobile surfers are aged 15-24, while the same age group accessing the web via a PC is just 16 per cent.

MyTake – is this really surprising? No. I remember wanted to surf the net in the WAP days, but found it excruciatingly painful, so I gave up. Then again when 3G was launched, but the limitations around the browsing capabilities again put me off. Having seen the likes of the iPhone, it’s a much more positive experience that doesn’t have the drawbacks of its not-quite-there predecessors. This is exactly what people want and they are taking to it in droves.

Out of Wile E Coyote's league, that's for sure

You remember that joke from the 80s – “High five, up above, down below! Uh-oh, you’re too slow!” – that’s Australia when it comes to Broadband. It really is dreadful – I recently read somewhere that we have even slower broadband than Brazil. But, the point of this post isn’t to bash Aussie Broadband, it’s to talk about something called “The Grid”. Sounds awesome what is it? Well, it’s a high-speed Internet connection that is more than 100,000 times faster than your average broadband connection, to put this into perspective movies, music and games could all be downloaded in seconds, not hours and hours….and hours….

“The Grid” is based on a series of fibre-optic cables and routing centres and can handle huge amounts of data. There are already more than 55,000 servers out there with 200,000 expected by 2010. The really awesome thing about this technology is what we could do with it – according to the boffins that invented it, we could be storing gigabytes of info on the net as well as transmitting holographic images and getting high-def video calls for the price of a local call.

MyTake – I read that one of the guys behind it said that it could revolutionise society. It could. Look at what we’ve done with web 2.0 and broadband, you’ve got to wonder how the traditional record store or video hire chains are going to survive with the speeds they are talking about for “The Grid”. True content-on-demand AND content that people want – “The grid” could be more than just an evolution of the Internet, it could be the biggest and most powerful distribution channel and outlet ever seen.

Tune out and log on

A new survey by UK-based analyst The Future Laboratory has revealed that nearly 25 per cent of 18 to 25-year-olds have ditched the TV in favour of networking on the web. The research also found that 22 per cent said they wee playing less video games, while 25 per cent spent more time instant messaging.

MyTake – The battle for eyeballs is become fierce and TV is going to lose-out if it can’t offer a bigger variety of content. Since the advent of digital we’ve had a lot more choice in what we watch in terms of free-to-air and the pay-to-view guys have been making inroads for years with movies and sports, but they still can’t offer the depth and breadth of content that the internet can. They need to stop thinking linier and start thinking access – they need to provide content on an “I want” basis, just as the net does. The big thing in TV’s corner – they have some killer content, they just need to change the distribution model.