…but this time, it is in the mobile world. Web browsing on mobile devices always had its challenges. Smaller screen size and lower processing power meant limited browsing experience on the handset. Technologies like WAP came and went without much enthusiasm from end users. The reason for the failures are simple: Users expect the same level of browsing experience on the handset too. It is too hard to view a page like www.yahoo.com on a mobile device.
The ill-fated Thunderhawk was the first mobile browser to offer desktop level browsing experience on the handset. Thunderhawk never really took off because of its requirement for a monthly subscription fees, which was a steep $49.99 per year. Later on, Opera became quite popular with its SSR (Small Screen Rendering) technology which offered a HTML view which was adapted to the screen size. Not desktop quality, but still usable. Their multi platform support made Opera a default choice for many handset vendors.Later, Nokia came up with a stellar browser on the S60 3rd Edition handsets, called the Minimap browser. Based on the Webkit rendering engine, the S60 browser offered unparalleled browsing experience on mobile handsets. The following screen shots show how the S60 browser works. The red square you see here shows the area you want to zoom.
If you have used only the Apple iPhone, you will realize the similarity. But hang on, Nokia did it much before Apple.
Opera Mini (a cousin of the native Opera application, but written in J2ME and uses an intermediate proxy server like the Thunderhawk) and Apple Safari also provide near desktop experience on mobile phones. S60 browser is more complete with its support for flash videos as of latest updates on Nokia 95 8GB.
Interestingly, the browser war on mobile devices is far from over. The recently announced Opera 9.5, the upcoming PIE on Windows Mobile 7, another Microsoft browser code named deepfish, a newcomer called Skyfire and above all, mobile Firefox will all be vying for a share of the mobile web traffic in the coming months. Exciting days ahead, no doubt!
Update: Corrected the Thunderhawk subscription cost.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
You are correct that Thunderhawk was the first mobile browser to offer desktop level browsing experience on the handset. However, it costs $49/year for a subscription, NOT $49/month. Also, Thunderhawk isn’t “ill-fated” as you say. Although the product is sold as a subscription to individuals, Bitstream has chosen to work primarily with OEMs to get Thunderhawk on handsets pre-installed vs. focusing on revenue from individual subscriber downloads of the software. Other versions of the software (PocketPC, etc.) haven’t been updated while they work out issues with mobile operators and device manufactures in trial applications.
@Best, Thanks for the correction on Thunderhawk’s subscription fee.
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