Web users set for easier mobile access

Technofile: In times past, surfing the internet on a mobile was hailed as the next revolution. Then everyone saw it, and the phrase "WAP [Wireless Application Protocol] is crap" was coined. Now, a new method of mobile web access is set to live up to the hype of five years ago.

WAP is the way most people currently access the internet on their mobile phone. Although promising a lot, it has largely failed to deliver. The access on WAP mobiles is expensive since you have to make a data request every time you click on a link.

Plus the mobile operators have put off content providers by charging access to their WAP portals.

Although WAP use has increased, only a handful of WAP sites do well - mostly those associated either with ring tones or adult entertainment sites. In addition, WAP sites don't share the same technology with normal websites.

Step forward iMode. This clever mobile technology was developed in Japan by the mobile network DoCoMo. Its developers cannily realised that by allowing website owners to offer content in "compact HTML", a form which closely resembles the normal web language, they would encourage more content to gravitate towards the mobile phone.

Not only that, but by not locking users into a "walled garden" of content, and allowing easy access to thousands of iMode sites, their customers would use the services more.

Content owners stood to make real revenue from their iMode sites, where they could keep 80 per cent of the revenues.

DoCoMo simply planned to recoup its revenue from the data charges, similar to the normal internet service provider business model.

The result was an explosion in iMode sites in Japan, a famously mobile nation. By contrast, Europe's mobile internet has been stymied by slow WAP sites, a lack of content and lack of incentive for content owners.

All that could be about to change, however, with the launch this month of iMode on O2's network.

An iMode mobile phone comes with a dedicated button allowing quick access to content. From there, it's just a matter of surfing through the sites and clicking on links as you want.

The difference is that it's a secure environment.

You you can subscribe to updates from sites at the click of a button and they can register your mobile phone number without you even having to type it in. That means being able to "buy" little bits of content, like a daily weightloss SMS, straight from the phone.

Secure banking is also possible. When you click to go backwards, the phone speedily zaps through the pages - no redownloading needed. Moreover, iMode is even faster on 3G, which O2 is launching at the same time.

Around 100 international and local mobile internet sites are on board for the launch, including Egg, Interflora, and Lastminute.com.

An added bonus is that e-mail is "pushed" to your phone so you never have to check it manually.

O2 is initially bringing out four handsets running iMode, some better looking than others like the NEC 343i handset (pictured), but more are on the way.

DoCoMo, which licenses iMode around the world, doesn't allow more than one network operator to offer iMode, so it will be interesting to see if O2 will be able to capture market share from other networks with this new facility. I recommend you at least try it out in your local phone store - it may just switch you on to the true mobile internet.