Another day, another war brewing! Nope, it’s not Linux phones, or the iPhone vs. the world, or any of that, this time.
It’s mobile web browsers, this time. Over the last few days, we’ve heard a lot about the new Skyfire browser, that’s going through beta-testing at the minute. According to the blurb, it will render web pages properly on your mobile, being able to properly display Flash, Java and all the elements that make for rich websites, but that mobile phones have a hissy fit trying to display. And on top of that, it’s reputed to be fast. Like, really fast.
I have to say, I’m genuinely excited about Skyfire, and I have signed up no their website for more info when it becomes available on Symbian (Windows Mobile only, at the mo), and in the UK (USA only, damn Yankees beating us to the good stuff!!)
[On a side note, I think I love it so much because it shares a name with a Transformer...]
[EDIT: You sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad man. - Chewie]
However, it’s going to have things all its own way… there are going to be web browsers fighting against it. The big name in mobile web browsing is Opera, and the big advantage they have is that their browser runs i9n Java, letting any phone that has Java (not just smartphones) access the full internet, instead of just WAP.
And then, of course, there are the big boys. Internet Explorer is already a standard part of Windows Mobile, and with a new version of Windows Mobile due in the hopefully not too distant future, it’s virtually certain they’ll update it to add things like Flash and Java support.
But the big news is that Mozilla are definitely, 100% wading into the fray, as they plan on releasing a mobile version of Firefox, according to Mozilla’s very own blog. Which is frankly awesome, as I use Firefox myself, and love it to bits, and if they can integrate all the add-ons that makes Firefox such a good browser, we could be in for a real treat. Again, Firefox Mobile is due some time this year.
Of course, there may be other we browsers by then, as well. It’s definitely a growth area, since we’re all using our phones to access the internet more. The first company to make a fully-featured web browser that will work on your mobile phone, that does everything that you can do on your desktop PC, and that doesn’t need you to plug in the entire processing power of a small nation to make it work, is going to make an absolute fortune.
Leave us a comment, and have your say!
January 30th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
Some comments from a witness to the Skyfire demos:
It’s a proxy browser: When you go to a site, Skyfire grabs it on a server, crunches it down, then sends a miniaturized version to your phone.
Proxy browsing is an old idea–the original version of the Palm Blazer browser did it years ago–but Skyfire is the first attempt I’ve seen to do it in a way that’s built for modern phones with good screens and reasonably high-speed connections. Even in the demo, it wasn’t flawless–YouTube video was much choppier than on an iPhone. And I’m curious whether something like Google Apps would be even remotely usable.
So I’m very curious about trying Skyfire out for myself, and how its inventors plan to make money and when the software will go into public beta.
January 31st, 2008 at 1:48 pm
GOOD comment, Ladi, it’s nice to hear from someone who can explain how it works, since I’d not had chance to get into the workings of it, myself!
I must admit, I wasn’t aware about it being proxy browsing. I know they’re saying it’s the fastest mobile web browser ever (I never trust marketing blurb), BUT I want to test it for myself, and see if it really IS as good as they say.
Mobile Firefox is certainly going to be interesting as well…
February 4th, 2008 at 10:30 am
[...] one of those “if you write it, they will come” moments, mere days after we ran this story about Mobile Firefox, I had a look on Latest-Mobile, literally about 10 minutes ago, and what [...]