The Mobile Internet has evolved dramatically since the days when WAP failed to live up to expectations. WAP has been creeping back into the frame. Not as a way of delivering the web to mobile phones, but as the platform behind MMS, mobile downloads and operator portals.

The underlying technology has also evolved. Higher-end handsets can present XHTML pages as well as WAP, and I-mode has entered the UK through their partnership with O2. A mobile site is now an intelligent entity that recognises the user's handset and optimises its presentation accordingly.

This new generation of mobile site is embodied by .mobi, the new mobile-specific domain based on the W3C's guidelines for the presentation of services on mobile devices.

Future Platforms have the privilege of being one of the few developers worldwide to have launched a .mobi site fully compliant with W3C's guidelines. www.three.mobi was developed for 3 in time for .mobi's launch at 3GSM. The site features 3's entries for the 2006 3GSM awards (they picked up the Best made-for-mobile music service award).

The tight .mobi guidelines mean that the site must be clean, fast and accessible on all handsets. We think we have shown that mobile sites can nevertheless still look good. Our hope is that .mobi will encourage many other companies, large and small, to put some quality effort into their presence on the mobile internet.

Read more about our work with 3