The web in your car
By: Drivers.com staff
Date: 2007-11-09
For most car owners, their automobile is an extension of their home (or office) and, more and more, internet access on the move is part of that mobility. In fact, many in the telematics industry believe that wireless connectivity will be more important than horsepower in car models of the future.
Smartphones, digital cellular phones that can transmit data such as text messaging, web access and other data services hold the promise of providing just that level of connectivity and mobility.
However, while all these services are currently available on Smartphones, most of the owners of these devices are not using them for internet access or web browsing. And that's because the technology is not yet able to deliver a good web browsing experience.
"Cruising the Web on a smartphone is like cruising for a date on a tricycle," wrote Pam Baker recently in an article for TechNewsWorld (September '07). "The basic concept is there, but the delivery is laughable. If you are using an iPhone, then it's more like cruising in a Volkswagen Beetle -- better, but still short of the Lamborghini speeds we're used to on the open cyber-highway."
ABI Research forecasts that the number of Smartphones in use will rise from 115 million units in 2007 to 410 million units in 2012. However, a recent survey of mobile phone uses indicates that only a small fraction of current owners are using them for web access.
The reason for this, says wireless analyst Miro Kazakoff, is that the experience of surfing the web over a cellular phone is a very unsatisfactory one.
Small screens are just one problem. The data service is too slow, and many smartphones, even Apple's iPhone, don't support 3G service. Price is a problem as well. Casual users can often purchase data transfer services on a pay-as-you-go basic, but that can be expensive. Flat rate plans, which are a better option if you want to spend any serious time web browsing, tend to be expensive as well (as much as US $60/month) and are more appropriate for business users.
One of the major obstacles to widespread mobile web use is, in the eyes of many in the telematics industry, a deliberate blocking of open services by cellular service providers. The providers, these critics say, are actively discouraging web browsing by restricting their customers to content they themselves provide, or by making it awkward to access the broader web on their phones.
This is often called the "walled garden" approach. Providers not only sell access to information, they also charge for content. Free content can eat away their revenue base, so they put up obstacles and discourage access to it.
This approach can be very irritating to customers. A few years ago, T-Mobile in the UK was accused of being less than candid with customers who found that they could not access email external to T-Mobile's system.
On the providers' side of the story, they worry about open access overloading their systems and the proliferation of malicious software. However, the cellular carriers will have to overcome their reluctance to open up, says Ross Rubin, director of industry analysis at NPD Group Inc.
"The task of cellular operators will be to find other avenues that can generate revenue without restricting what users can access," Rubin told Computerworld.com recently. At any rate, Rubin added. The issue could be forced by newer, faster, more open services such as Sprint Nextel's Xohm mobile WiMax service.
However it works out, fast, phone-friendly mobile internet access is on the way, offering real mobility to drivers everywhere.
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