Real Web comes to mobile

The newest browsers bring the desktop Web to your mobile phone -- Flash and all

Talk about your 180° turns. Remember when the mobile Web was about simple text snippets and phone-ready widgets? That's old hat. The latest trend is delivering the Web — in all its desktop glory — right to your hip pocket.

Thank, or blame, the iPhone. Even users unwilling to plunk down $400 bucks for the device have seen the ubiquitous Apple commercials showing how you can surf the Web in full-page, pan-and-zoom mode.

Opera's been there from the start, too, with its Opera Mini browser, which is usable on any mobile device with Java. Its latest Opera Mobile 9.5 browser for smartphones, announced last week, touts full Ajax, Flash and Web capabilities as well. Not to be outdone, the Mozilla Foundation this month released prototypes of its upcoming Mobile Firefox browser. And Google is delivering new browsing capabilities in its Android mobile operating system.

Meanwhile, newcomer Skyfire made a splash at the DEMO conference with its offering, which uses a proxy server approach to even deliver embedded Flash (a tough technical challenge), making Flash-heavy pages such as ESPN.com and YouTube.com viewable on a mobile phone.

A more open mobile Web potentially threatens mobile operators, which could lose control over the user experience and key ad opportunities.

“Once users start to experience a richer, more PC-like experience, you'll see a lot of the mobile walled gardens start to fall,” said Chris Hazelton, senior analyst for IDC Research.

Yet many vendors are looking to partner with operators. Opera, for instance, touts the ability for carriers and OEM partners to use idle screen time on its new browser for advertising.

Other vendors are oriented toward carrier distribution. Bytemobile's Web Fidelity product runs in an operator's network and optimizes content, delivers multimedia and enables carrier ad insertion.

“Operators still have the advantage. They own the customer relationship,” said Amy Leyh, director of marketing for Bytemobile.

More powerful, open mobile browsers could put a kink in that equation.