The two technologies are similar and thus follow a familiar path in terms of milestones and innovations. Mobile browsers became a reality about 10 years after traditional browsers did, so all the major benchmarks in the evolution of mobile browsing occur 10 years after they did for traditional browsing.
In their genesis, both mobile and traditional Web browsers only rendered text and were navigated through text commands because they had no mouse devices. Because of many browsers that interpreted HTML slightly differently, Webmasters had difficulty anticipating how a website would look on different browsers. As browsers improved and consolidated, pictures and color were incorporated with the text, and directories and portals were created to help us move around the Web and find new websites. With the traditional Web, we got to a point where there were only three or four major browsers, and they all rendered HTML in a similar way. Unfortunately, mobile browsers have yet to hit that milestone.
Mobile browsers in 2009 are about where traditional browsers were in 1999. There has been some consolidation and movement toward a more similar rendering standard across all mobile browsers, but mobile Web rendering can still be unpredictable and difficult to control or get perfect.
Mobile browsers must overcome a number of hurdles that traditional browsers didn't have. Mobile browsers can potentially be loaded on an infinite number of handsets, each with different specifications, including screen size, available memory, input technologies (keypad, scroll wheel, touchscreen, and so on). With some phones, the browsers must work in both landscape and portrait mode, and different carriers may choose to block some handset technology not blocked by others. Some phone manufacturers also assign different functions to various buttons on the devices, further complicating mobile browsing.
It is also important to note that because mobile phones are constantly being improved and replaced, mobile Web browsers tend to go through more versions within a primary version number than traditional Web browsers do. On a traditional computer, users have to download a new browser each time there is an update, but mobile phones are shipped with a browser preloaded, so it is easier for the browser companies to distribute updated software whenever they have a new version. It is common for one mobile Web browser to already have many different versions that predate it.
The good news is that the situation is improving by leaps and bounds every year. The list of mobile browsers for which Web developers must develop is getting shorter, and the mobile browsers are coming ever closer to a unified rendering standard. The launch of true Web browsers in 2007 on mobile phones has already done a lot to change how people use their phone and think about Web access. Furthermore, an increasing number of digital devices, such as game stations, GPS units, and MP3 players, include a Web browser or, in some cases, a mobile Web browser.
Following is a list of common Web browsers in use today:
• Openwave—Credited with the launch of the first mobile browser in 1997 (but then operating under the name UnwiredPlanet), Openwave is still a popular mobile browser. It represented 29% of the mobile browsers in the world in 2008. The first OpenWave browsers supported only WAP, but the browser has updated to support HTML and other, more complex coding languages. It is a reliable mobile browser that is native on many mobile phones.
• Nokia Browsers—Nokia's first mobile browser launched in 1999 and was capable of rendering only WAP websites. It frequently accessed only WAP content provided directly from the mobile carrier. The original Nokia WAP browser was licensed to other handset manufacturers to help encourage the adoption of WAP programming standards. Subsequent versions of the mobile browser adapted with the technology to render full HTML and XHTML. Nokia browsers represented 34% of the mobile browsers in the world in 2008.
• Opera Mobile and Opera Mini—Opera launched its first mobile browser in 2000. It was unique, in that it was not tied exclusively to any operating system, but it could be added to any phone that allowed third-party applications. Opera currently offers two browsers, Opera Mobile, which is intended for larger, more capable smart phones, and Opera Mini, which is intended for smaller, less capable phones. Opera browsers are also frequently preloaded on phones that run the Windows Mobile or Symbian operating systems.
• Blazer—Blazer launched its first mobile browser in 2000, supporting WAP, HTML, and iMode. This mobile browser was developed specifically for the Palm operating system and is found on Palm OS Palm and Treo handsets. It was one of the earlier mobile browsers available and was one of the first to support WAP and HTML instead of exclusively WAP.
• Internet Explorer Mobile—Launched in 1996 as Pocket Internet Explorer, Internet Explorer Mobile is the default mobile browser on all Windows Mobile, Windows CE, and many Palm devices. From the beginning, Internet Explorer supported HTML rendering and only later added WAP rendering with the release of the Pocket PC 2002 operating system. Internet Explorer Mobile also represents a large portion of the native mobile browsers available on phones today.
• BlackBerry Internet Browser—This browser was created by Research In Motion (RIM) to run exclusively on the BlackBerry operating system on BlackBerry phones, It should be noted however, that not all BlackBerrys run this browser, because in some cases, RIM has allowed carriers to place alternative browser as the native browser on the phone, omitting the BlackBerry Internet Browser. This browser has gone through various editions and upgrades, but historically it has been one of the less powerful mobile browsers. The BlackBerry browsers could originally render only WAP sites, but HTML capability was added with the launch of Symbian 4.0 in 2005. The browser improved with the launch of the BlackBerry Storm, but the browser still lacked sophistication in its mobile Web rendering.
• Mobile Safari—Mobile Safari is the primary browser that runs on the Apple operating system on the iPhone. Mobile Safari offers a similar Web browsing experience to the traditional Safari browser. Mobile Safari was the first Web browser that could really claim to provide a true Web browsing experience on a mobile phone.
• Mobile Chrome—This is the primary browser for phones that run the Android operating system developed by Google. This browser is similar to the desktop version of Chrome, in which Google pioneered a combined address bar and search bar that could understand whether searchers were trying to find a specific Web page or perform a search. Like mobile Safari, Mobile Chrome is a true Web rendering browser.
• SkyFire—SkyFire is a browser developed for the Windows Mobile and Symbian operating systems. SkyFire launched in beta in 2008 and offers much promise, but at the time of this writing, it has not yet been taken out of beta. It is another true Web browser that can run QuickTime and SilverLight, and it was the first software for Windows Mobile phones capable of running Flash.
