Does it seem odd to anyone else that the mobile internet is evolving the way it is? Especially here in the US. It seems like the carriers have been slow to realize the potential. Many carriers have put up what is commonly referred to as a “walled garden” which blocks browsing any content that is not provided by the carrier. These barriers are slowly coming down. Our mobile game firm, Robotube Games has ridden the wave of challenges in delivering mobile content independently, outside of the carrier portals. It’s been a rough road but things are finally beginning to open up. Although some carriers still will not allow binary transfers off network (they won’t let you download a product that they’re not selling.) What if AOL users could only buy products from AOL? I don’t think many people would use AOL anymore, would they? This is what will happen to the carriers as the mobile internet grows if they don’t change their ways. I think it’s inevitable that they will all have to knock down the wall, especially as consumers become hungry for a wider variety of mobile content.

Right now mobile content is a digital snack, a quick fix between high-bandwidth meals. Content needs to be created with the small device in mind. Remember how horrible the Internet looked and functioned when we all first got online? This was initially a result of programmers designing web pages (I began my career as a programmer, so I can say that.) Then it was designers from the print world. It was only after we realized that the Internet was it’s own beast, deserving of it’s own set of rules that it really took off. I believe that we will see similar patterns with mobile. But with mobile evolving a bit faster, having the benefit of the Internet having lead the way.