Mobile is the New Frontier
 by Mattya56
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07-06-2007
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If you read my earlier article titled "Why the iPhone is Bad for Mobile Search" you will see that in this installment I'll be talking about why the iPhone will be good for all SEM, as opposed to my stance in the previous article that the iPhone was bad for Mobile SEM. I'm not taking back what I said by any means. I firmly believe that the iPhone is the death of Mobile SEM ... as we know it. The reason being, SEM/SEO tactics will work universally. There will no longer be Mobile SEM/SEO and traditional SEM/SEO there will just be SEM and SEO. This is not good for businesses that have put millions of dollars and thousands of man hours into optimizing for WAP standards. This is good for people who are just getting into SEM/SEO and have been considering moving into the mobile arena.
HTML: Hard Times for Mobile Lingerers
Oh come on, what was I supposed to put for "L"? As I discuessed in my previous article, the iPhone will launch with a full version of OS X's Safari Web browser (sort of). The reason I say "sort of" is because it does not have Flash or Java applications. Good news for most SEO's, who have wisely stayed away from Flash but bad news for webmasters that like the bright and shiny stuff. Already we've seen sites that run almost entirely on Flash change things up to accommodate the iPhone's capabilities i.e. YouTube.com. YouTube will not be the last business to set up for the impending HTML for mobile revolution. In the coming months you will see hundreds of big businesses change things around to cater to the iPhone crowd, as it will be very large. I wouldn't be too worried about jumping on this bandwagon. Initially, I assume this will be primarily hipster type sites like YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook, MTV.com, etc. However, soon enough more and more mainstream businesses will be following suit.
Mobile 3.0 is Now ... Well ...5 Days from Now
The media frenzy surrounding the iPhone means whether or not Apple sells millions or hundreds of iPhones, there will be copy-catters out the wazoo. Every mobile device company will be launching a new product within the next 18 months that will be called the "iPhone Killer", attempting to bite off the circus surrounding the iPhone. Start-up companies will be doing it just to get coverage. CEOs of other groups will call the iPhone crap, and then rip every unique feature off and call it their own.
In order for Web 3.0 to come to prominence that feature will need to be a full HTML browser. Now, you've probably already used the crappy WAP browser on a mobile device. It's good enough to read news, looks at pictures maybe even get a weather report. But really, what else can you do with it? Now imagine being able to check out a new Web site, in its full glory. Purchase something from Gap.com. Update your blog? Steal a story from someone else's Web site and call it your own on your blog? Its going to be all of what Web 2.0 was and is, but now it will be in the palm of your hand, regardless of whether that palm has an iPhone, Blackberry or Windows Mobile 6 enabled device.
Do the Local Motion
This means the "it" word is Local Search not Mobile Search. Yes, search will be conducted via mobile device, but it won't be under WAP standards. It will be under current standards used for any PC browser. If you haven't seen the types of practical uses Apple is pushing, go to Apple.com and see for yourself. They are basically advertising Local Search. There is a video of old Jobsy himself searching for a pizza place in San Francisco. He enters in his location and then what he's searching for, then by using Google Maps he's found himself a nice little pizza kitchen to dine at.
Food for thought, eh local businesses?
