News Release: W3C Brings Leaders Together in "Mobile Web Initiative" Workshop

This week, W3C is bringing together its Members and other experts in a
Workshop to explore issues related to Mobile Web access, and solutions
to lead it to its full potential. To learn more, and to speak with W3C
Technical experts on this topic, please contact Janet Daly at +1 617 253
5884 or <janet@w3.org>


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W3C Brings Leaders Together in "Mobile Web Initiative" Workshop

Participants to Explore Current and Potential Applications, Identify
Next Actions

(Web resources at the end of this release)

http://www.w3.org/ -- 17 November 2004 -- The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C) is hosting a "Mobile Web Initiative" Workshop on 18-19 November in
Barcelona, Spain that will discuss the current challenges of "mobile
Web" access, and how to address them.

Potential of Mobile Devices on the Web Not Yet Realized

Being able to access the wealth of information available on the Web from
a mobile device is valuable in many day-to-day situations, e.g. when
checking timetables, looking for product information, checking e-mail,
transferring money or accessing a corporate Internet while travelling.
Mobile Web access is considered to be a key enabler for mobile Internet
services. However, even though many of today's mobile phones include Web
browsers, accessing the Web from a mobile device has not become as
popular as expected. Users often find that their favorite Web sites are
not accessible or not as easy to use on their mobile phone as on their
desktop device. Content providers have difficulties building Web sites
that work well on all types and configurations of mobile phones offering
Web access.

W3C Holds Workshop to Identify Obstacles, Solutions

To address these and related issues, W3C is considering a new effort
called the "W3C Mobile Web Initiative". The goal of this initiative is
to make Web access from a mobile device as simple, easy and convenient
as Web access from a desktop device. Initial ideas for achieving this
goal include developing "best practices" documents, providing support
infrastructures for mobile developers, organizing training programs for
Web content providers and creating validation and conformance testing
services for Web-access from mobile devices. These activities would
complement current W3C efforts in developing Web standards that support
the expanding Web, including mobile devices (e.g. multimodal
interaction, mobile profiles, device independence).

Sponsors, Participants Include Industry Leaders in Mobile and Web
Technologies

Sponsored by W3C members Hewlett-Packard, Orange, Vodafone and Volantis,
and colocated with a meeting of OMA (Open Mobile Alliance), the workshop
seeks industry and community input and feedback. Specifically, the
workshop will look at the current issues with mobile Web access, and how
they should be addressed.

Over 40 position papers have been submitted by mobile and Web technology
leaders from around the globe, including 3UK; ACCESS; Adamind; Adobe
Systems; Argogroup; BT; Canon; CSP – ICT Innovation; Day Software; ETRI
(Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute); Expway; France
Telecom; FUNDACION ONCE; Hewlett-Packard; IONA Technologies;
MobileAware; mTLD ("Mobile Top-Level Domain") consortium; Nokia; Nordea;
NTT DoCoMo; Obigo; Openwave Systems; Opera; Oracle; Orange; PalmSource;
Research In Motion; Sony Ericsson; Streamezzo; Sun Microsystems;
T-Mobile; Totalbrand; University of Southampton; Vodafone Group Services
Ltd; Volantis; Yahoo! and ZoomOn.

A W3C workshop is an opportunity to bring together W3C Members and the
public to discuss possible future directions for W3C work. Position
papers, presentations, and minutes from this workshop will be posted
publicly on the W3C Web site after the workshop.

Contact Americas and Australia --
     Janet Daly, <janet@w3.org>, +1.617.253.5884
Contact Europe, Africa and Middle East --
     Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33.492.38.75.94
Contact Asia --
     Yasuyuki Hirakawa <chibao@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170

For more, consult these Web resources:

This press release - http://www.w3.org/2004/11/mwi-pressrelease
Workshop homepage - http://www.w3.org/2004/09/mwi-workshop-cfp.html
All submitted papers - http://www.w3.org/2004/10/MWIWS-papers/
W3C and Mobile Web development: -  http://www.w3.org/2004/02/Mobile.html

About the World Wide Web Consortium [W3C]

The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing
common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its
interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run
by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
(CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and
Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in
Japan. Services provided by the Consortium include: a repository of
information about the World Wide Web for developers and users, and
various prototype and sample applications to demonstrate use of new
technology. More than 350 organizations are Members of W3C. To learn
more, see http://www.w3.org/

Received on Wednesday, 17 November 2004 05:03:04 UTC