It seems that rarely a day goes by without new developments in the progress of the mobile web. Last week, Los Angeles-based mobile network operator, Helio Drift, announced its GPS-enabled version of Google Maps, while today in Europe, mobile network operator 3 publicized an agreement with top internet companies - including Google, Skype and eBay - which the firm promises will revolutionise the rapidly emerging mobile web.Under this new agreement, 3 will allow its customers to make free internet phone calls - similar to the way that users can make free internet calls from computer to computer through Skype. Users will also be able to watch their home television via their mobile handset and even access their personal computers whilst on the move. The price for receiving these fixed line broadband services will be a flat-rate monthly fee.
3, the company responsible for launching Britain's first Third Generation (3G) network, seems to be responding to a crucial change in the mobile industry. 3G phones are designed to make it possible for consumers to surf the web and watch television through their mobile handsets; however, recent studies have found that many owners of 3G mobiles were still only using their phones to make simple calls and text messages. As a result, 3G mobiles have been seen as a financial catastrophe, as 3 has struggled to keep consumers up to date with evolving technology.
In fact, Merrill Lynch, one of the world's leading financial management and advisory bodies, commented last month that "we think an option for H3G could be an exit". The Hutchison Whampoa group, the conglomerate behind the 3 mobile network, insists that it is fully committed to its European mobile businesses - though many have speculated that an exit from its UK markets, worth €4 billion, could be an option.
On Tuesday, Yahoo! and UK mobile network operator Vodafone, a leading rival to 3 in the UK market, signed an advertising deal which plans to let their customers receive savings on particular mobile services if they agree to accept targeted display ads from the popular search engine.
Following this, the move made by 3 may be seen as a natural one, as more and more mobile network operators try to incorporate the mobile internet more feasibly into their services. Indeed, it may be set to change the course of the mobile web in Britain entirely, as the company so confidently claim. At the very least, it will help justify the billions spent on the development of 3G phones and thus save 3 from even more criticism.
