The demand for web browsing on mobile devices has increased significantly worldwide. This demand has caused many device manufacturers, with Apple leading the pack, to release high-end smartphones. These smartphones are loaded with innovative features, including full-HTML browsers and superior display and user interface capabilities. Content developers have also responded to this demand by releasing mobile-friendly versions of their websites. Jupiter Research recently reported that 40% of website operators have launched mobile-friendly sites and another 22% plan to do so next year. This is in addition to the existing mobile sites for ringtones, games and other content. As this trend continues, there are approximately 3.3 billion subscribers worldwide who seek to access the full power of the Internet on their current feature phones.

Dynamic content adaptation is a server-side technology that transparently adapts web pages to the specific capabilities of the mobile device. The industry recently faced a serious issue with this novel approach: the negative impact that content adaptation had on existing mobile content. In order to retrieve HTML web pages, the content adaptation server identifies itself as a full internet browser. Most websites look for the device type to determine whether to present the PC version or the mobile version of the web page. Since the content adaptation server identifies itself as a PC, these websites return the PC version by default. While this approach works well for most of the Internet, it ‘breaks’ mobile content websites, leaving users unable to access them.

A logical solution to this problem would be for the content adaptation server to publish the mobile device identity instead of the PC identity. While this would reopen access to mobile content, it might impact the overall end-user experience. Several websites do not necessarily keep their mobile-friendly versions current vis-à-vis their PC versions. Others ‘dumb down’ their mobile-friendly versions significantly, thereby diminishing the website’s utility.

In order to provide an optimal end-user experience, the best approach would be to follow a simple three-step process:

1) Have the content adaptation server identify the mobile device version by default in retrieving web pages from the Internet.

2) Empower the end user to retrieve the alternate PC version of the web page through special navigation tools.

3) Empower the operator to decide on the default device identity to be presented for specific websites and thereby support its content partners.

– Ram Venketaramani

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Trying to surf the web from a mobile phone is like trying to watch a movie through a keyhole. It can be a very frustrating experience. The industry has tried to solve the problem using two approaches:

1) Making the keyhole bigger.
Many smartphone manufacturers take this approach. They add faster processors, more memory and larger screens. The result is bulky devices and shorter battery life. Like the keyhole that ceases to serve its purpose once it becomes too large, a bulky device begins to lose its mobility. It no longer fits into your pockets or feels comfortable in your hand or against your ear. Many people object to carrying smartphones for this reason.

2) Making the movie screen smaller.
This is the approach taken by the mobile website ecosystem. It reduces web content to fit the lowest common denominator of device capabilities, thereby limiting the potential of mobile browsing. The functionality available on most mobile sites is a fraction of what is available on the desktop versions of the same sites. The content is a selected slice of the most frequently accessed desktop content. In effect, the long tail is cut off.

What is needed is not a larger keyhole or a smaller screen but the right lens. Content adaptation provides that lens. It does not force a compromise, as other approaches do, but enables the best of both worlds.

However, there is more to content adaptation than simply overcoming the limitations of mobile infrastructure (devices, browsers, networks, etc.). Content adaptation is important not only because of device capabilities but also because of device differences. In effect, it is a broker in the network that deals with these differences and enables users to enjoy content that is automatically tailored to their device. Content adaptation transparently offloads the processing and resolution of compatibility issues from both servers and devices. And — let’s face it — for the foreseeable future, these issues will continue and perhaps even increase.

Building the content adaptation function into the network represents the most efficient architectural solution. Incorporating the function in content servers or devices would require that it be replicated on each server and device — not a smart way to build the next generation of computing. Either each server would require intelligence on all of the devices that access it or each device would need to support the full plethora of web technologies on the network.

Either approach would result in enormous cost to the industry. That cost can be eliminated by embedding the content adaptation lens in the network.

- Girish Wadhwani

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