Internode: iPhone driver for killer mobile Web apps

Simon Hackett, managing director of Internode, believes that the platform for Web applications has matured.

Australian IT outsourcers like Brennan, are currently developing mobile Web applications for their business clients, in an attempt to cash in on the ‘mobile revolution’.

In a previous CRN article, David Perks, GM business solutions at Brennan said that mobile handsets and PDAs, like the iPhone and Blackberry, are being used for everyday and work life.

According to Hackett, the iPhone will be a core driver for mobile Web applications becoming hugely popular in the next couple of years -- to a level far beyond that seen to date.

“Web access prior to the iPhone was clunky, slow, hard to use and crash-prone,” he said.

“The iPhone truly is a mobile high quality Unix system in a handheld form factor -- it is appreciably different in the mobile space -- a mobile device with near desktop power and programmability.”

He believes there will be more demand from customers wanting to access the Internet using their mobile phones.

“While there are more mobile phones than there are Internet users today, it’s the Web users that are providing the critical mass to justify efforts to offer Internet related services in mobile devices,” Hackett said.

The current mobile phone services will also sustain mobile workers, claimed Hackett.

“Current 3G offerings hit a performance level which is pretty good for mobile road warrior use,” he said.

“The only thing left to fix at that level, for the mobile demand set, is the price -- which is still far too high compared to fixed line ADSL services."