I hate to keep on bringing up the Mobile World Congress as a starting point to every argument I present, but in this situation I can’t help but remember how little people cared about the operators who bothered showing up in Barcelona last month. There is currently a gross realization that the pace at which mobile operators innovate is stuck somewhere between the rate of evolution and the amount of time it takes for plastics to decompose.
Mozilla wants to get into the mobile browser space, but they’re playing the game with the old rules that dictated operators controlled everything. Why are they acting surprised for “hitting a brick wall” is beyond me. What made Firefox take off in the first place was the way the PC industry is set up; Walt Mossberg’s now infamous rant where he says you don’t need to call your ISP if you want to install an application or upgrade your computer comes to mind.
The inevitability of turning into a bit pipe is happening faster than anyone has expected and operators will do everything in their power to keep what little control they have left. For America to break free and escape their third world status in the mobile space more people need to wake up to the fact that their phones can do so much more than make phone calls and send text messages. The iPhone is the main driver of this message and I’m sure the guys over at Mozilla will soon figure out a strategy of likewise caliber.
[Via: Computer World, Slashdot]