3G Is Carriers' New Golden Goose, Are We Ready To Pay?

Unless you've just been to Mars, you'll have noticed the world has gone iPhone 3G crazy. Apple announced today it sold 1 million devices, TechCrunch declared the mobile web is here, and if you didn't stand in line to get your iPhone yet then, well, you're planning to.

I was pleased to encounter a refreshing perspective from Mark Evans on the newly crowned Golden Goose of the wireless industry - 3G. I agree with Mark that the time is ripe for wireless carriers to milk this cow, and milk it they will.

However, the web as we know it has evolved in a world where data is free. It is this reality that enabled the evolution of online video, file sharing and media-rich web applications - to name a few.

Are we ready to be charged for data, to measure our every download and count our every byte? I say - no, we aren't (although we'll tolerate it temporarily). Wireless carriers will strive to run the mobile web world as a mobile world - but down the road, it is the web world that will prevail. Web's Trojan Horse, if you like.

For the time being, I would keep an eye on these technologies:

a) Bandwidth reducers: data counters, intelligent compression and of course anything that optimizes Wi-Fi use vs. 3G.

b) Bandwidth-rich mobile apps - sorry, you're in for a rough patch