OMMA Magazine columnist Steve Smith poses a question many of us are wondering about the wireless industry: The iPhone may be changing the way we view the Web on mobile devices, but how long will it be before the marketplace catches up?

"It will do for the mobile Internet what American Idol did for SMS messaging," said Nihal Mehta, former CEO of mobile marketing firm ipsh! in the article. "In other words, by bringing more people to the mobile Web from many devices, Apple is helping to lift the entire industry."

Gene Keenan, vice president of mobile services at Isobar Global, agreed. Smith said that several of Keenan's clients are building sites specifically for the iPhone, and he expects that the example of the mobile Safari experience will move third parties to develop much more robust browsers for a range of phones. "For the first time, there is a device it is exciting to create content for," Keenan said.

Soon, other mobile devices will have similar Web browsing capability as the iPhone. As usual, Smith's column is detailed and intelligently written--check it out for more on the challenges facing mobile media today.

You Say You Want a Revolution [OMMA Magazine]