People are finally starting to notice the mobile web.. with its quirks, specific issues and hurdles and mostly its vast potential. Also driven by a mostly European impetuous developers are starting to realize that mobile web sites should be specifically designed and built. What I am trying to say is they aren’t just poor cousins of web sites… they fulfill another function. A function based on being mobile, on snacking content, on staying in touch always, on killing time pursuits.. and for the developing world on a replacement to the PC based web.

So what I would like to do is give a few resources that my team has found interesting. Following will be forums, blogs and tools that can be used for developers or managers who are getting acquainted with the mobile internet which todays latest mobile phones can easily access to.

I guess to start off is the people behind .mobi sub domain and who are based in Dublin and push very hard to make .mobi THE destination for mobile sites :

You can find many resources and info on their sites and blogs. They also link to many exemplary mobile web sites so you can see what is best practices and what should be avoided.

A pretty cool mobile web site that talks about .mobi is this one :

I would suggest that you visit directly from a few mobile devices and maybe an emulator so you can see the differences for yourselves.

The next place I would suggest you go is here :

These are the same people as .mobi and they provide quite a few pointers on how to develop a proper .mobi site.

Also with all the visibility that the iPhone is making for the mobile web it can be worthwhile to start right from th beginning to look at what it takes to make a iPhone and iPode touch compatible site. Apple gives here the stuff to start off :

The next place to visit is our friends over Mobility. They are a forum of mobile enthusiasts, developers, entrepreneurs and industry specialists.

You can visit from both a PC or from your mobile device.

To fully understand the user agent issues and to tap into the largest open source database of mobile device it is a must to visit Luca Passani’s WURFL here :

At this point hopefully you will have tried building your own site.. well then it is time to get a rating :

Once you know about all these things and you build your site it may be time to earn some money… that is where things like MobPartner.mobi come in :

Finally as we all know networking is super important.. well I found a small but growing network on Linkedin :

Here are a few great blogs that will help you understand the various issues surrounding mobile sites and the revenue models that are used :

http://www.developing.mobi

http://mobienthusiast.mobi

http://www.mobiadnews.com/

http://www.m-trends.org/

http://wapreview.com/blog/

http://igloo.mobi/

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