The W3C is considering a W3C Mobile Web Initiative that will seek to ease Web access from mobile devices. Computer World has an little bit about it, with a link to numerous "position papers" from notable vendors, large and small, about infrastructure, best practices, considerations, etc.

As a guy who doesn't read the paper any more, but instead relies solely on a rather arduous morning ritual of wading through pages of worthless navigation content to get at the guts of stories from non-local favorites (such as the WaPo or ProJo), it's interesting to see what different companies see as the issues and the hurdles to moving forward. In the case of the Blackberry, the RIM power point PDF on the site, focuses solely on what they currently have, and the alphabet soup of protocols and languages they support -- seemingly suggesting that the status quo, of accessing exisiting web content from the device is sufficient -- hint, hint -- it's not. But there is also a very nice piece by the bright guys at Opera, including:

Use cases for the mobile Web

There is no separate mobile Web, any more than there is an office Web, a home Web, a leisure Web, or an airport Web. The ways in which the the Web is accessed, depend on cost, technology, usability, and situation. Initially the cost and technology constrained Web use to data look-up or download and as infotainment while travelling or in similar situations. As phone browsing becomes more fun, the Web use becomes more diverse.

How the mobile user experience differs from the fixed user experience

The differences can be summed up as adding constraints and freedom. With a phone you need to do more with less, and the constraints are most obvious to the user. It is slower, has smaller displays, is more expensive, and has lower usability. In many ways the mobile user experience is burdened with the same accessibility issues as people with disabilities. It also offers freedom. With the mobile Web you bring your computer with you. This gives the mobile Web an immediacy the desktop Web experience does not have; it is more social, and it can adapt to where you are.

Brilliant! Timo Bruns and Ove Ranheim, kudos to you. There is a successful Symbian Opera browser -- I wonder if there's any hope for a Java one as well? Hopefully I can take the time to read more of the documents. But, damn it, I'm gonna read it from my mobile. So much for your powerpoint PDF, RIM.