That was strange! Out of the top 24 results there wasn’t a single Windows phone. What was going on?

Well, looking closely at the article on the WpCentral, a website with a Windows Phone bias, I noticed that the title was misleading. The screenshot, captured by one of it’s users was showing cell phones with service plans. Well, any phone could come on top if bundled with a great service plan! And the screenshot doesn’t show what features and other options the list had been filtered with. It doesn’t even show out of how many results the Windows Phone was top ranked.

Just goes to show, with just a spot of ingenuity, you can make just about anything look real!

I’ve been hearing great things about TinyTwitter. It’s a mobile client for Twitter that lets you keep in touch with all your buddies right off your mobile phone. They’ve just released a new version, here’s the lowdown from WebWorkerDaily:
New features include auto uploading of photos to Twitpic along with your tweet, and a hook into a GPS if available to provide location services. I’m particularly pleased with the Twitpic integration options as I have never really taken full advantage of the camera on my mobile. Being able to snap a quick photo and do a quick tweet makes it really simple to capture and share those moments. Look for more photos from me moving forward.
Download it here: TinyTwitter

What’s interesting about the post is the comment thread that follows, where a number of people debate this issue. But the real gem in there is Jason Grigsby‘s comment:

First, when Russell says Mobile Web, he is narrowly defining it as “developing sites using XHTML-MP markup, no Javascript, geared towards cellular connections and two inch screens are simply wasting their time.” Basically, he is describing building sites for pre-iPhone mobile devices.

What we know now is that given the right browser that mobile web usage takes off. And every phone manufacturer is working to copy the iPhone experience. Russell seems to equate this iPhone-like experience with desktop browsing.

Russell’s argument is that the mobile web is moving towards the iPhone experience. He acknowledges that Mowser was a “short term bet against Moore’s law.” And he lists the numbers that show that web browsing increases for iPhone users.

To put this in perspective, Russell is arguing that there is no money to be made using Gopher (xhtml-mp w/o javascript) now that Mosaic (iPhone) has been released and consumers have released that they don’t want anything less than the Mosaic or better experience.

That’s not proclaiming the end of the mobile web. It is the beginning.

Michael Mace’s argument is the opposite of the Mobile Web being dead. Instead, he is arguing that the mobile web is killing mobile application development. I don’t buy that either because there are still things that you cannot access in a browser that are critical mobile features. But whether or not I agree with Michael’s argument, his article certainly doesn’t support this article’s headline.

Maybe I can be accused of having mobile-color glasses on, but I don’t see anything in a careful reading of either article that suggests that the mobile web is dying. If anything, both authors seem to be saying that it is poised to take off.

Wow, that pretty much sums up my feelings about both articles. Technology is continually evolving and what we’re seeing is the death of old models and the emergence of new ones. To draw a comparison, once upon a time, watch making was still in it’s infancy and something like this Technomarine watch would have been considered science fiction.

Where some companies are going under, new ones are springing up. The great thing for us consumers is that there’s always something new and exciting to jump on to.

It’s a pity Russell, maybe you’ll jump on the right bandwagon next time.

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For those new to mobile development, this toolkit includes guidance on getting started with Visual Studio .NET 2003 and the .NET Compact Framework, technical documentation and information to help take your Windows Mobile application to market. For current Windows Mobile developers, the toolkit contains the SDKs, emulator images and technical content for developing managed and native applications for Windows Mobile 2002, Windows Mobile 2003 and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition.

Enjoy!