When cell phones first gained the ability to surf the web, users couldn’t really surf the web, because most sites didn’t have compatibility with phone browsers.  URLs were nothing short of convoluted, and unless a user had the “url” written down, he or she wasn’t going to find the page.  Then, the phone browsers incorporated a search function, but even then were limited by the number of pages available to phones.

Now, the internet is as mobile as people are.  Smart phones have browsers that are similar, if not the same, as those on computers.  The iPhone runs Safari, just like an Apple computer does.  These smart phones aren’t limited by the number of websites that are optimized for mobile use and viewing, because they don’t have phone browsers, they have internet browsers.

Not everyone owns a smart phone though.  The prices are coming down, but they’re still expensive.  Anyone who had trouble with the new iPhone 3G might be wondering if perhaps the price came down too quickly.  But what about other mobile phones that don’t have the benefit of a computer’s browser, a qwerty keyboard and an unlimited data plan?  Unoptimized websites are not only difficult to view, but they take so much time to download onto a mobile phone that users will likely shy away lest their data charges skyrocket.

Eventually, one of two things will likely happen.  All websites will be optimized, or all phones will have computer-type browsers, such as Safari, FireFox, Chrome or Internet Explorer.  Even if that’s the eventuality, optimized sites are still good.  A phone’s screen is much smaller than a computer and so one of the reasons that regular phones cannot browse regular sites is because they haven’t an easy way to zoom.  Touch phones zoom in and out at the tap of the screen.  Even so, optimized sites are still useful on smart phones.  Zooming in and out all of the time makes elongated web browsing somewhat cumbersome.

If you’re unsure how to obtain a mobile optimized website, you should contact your internet marketing agency.