Viva! Barcelona - a Mobile Monday story.

So, its Mobile World Congress time again, and the key question is "Will 2009 truly be The Year of the Mobile Web". Well, the BBC's Rory Cellan Jones first soundings are mixed:

Two years ago all the talk at the Mobile World Congress was of the imminent arrival of the Apple iPhone, and how it was going to change the industry. One year ago, all the talk was of Google's open-source Android operating system, and what a radical impact that might have. In each case, the big established players blew a collective raspberry at the thought that these upstarts would rock their world - so how much has changed?

However often it is pointed out that the iPhone has only a tiny fraction of world handset sales, a walk around the halls here provides plenty of evidence of its influence. Touchscreen phones are everywhere - and although early versions appeared pale imitations, some of them now look as good as the original, and have a lot more firepower.

He notes that some of these new devices are as iPhony as the come, but the killer non-app was always:

And it's on software that Apple has really made a big impact. Ever tried to get onto the web with an N95? I found it too much of a struggle to bother, with this or other phones, and the statistics show that it was only the arrival of the iPhone which encouraged many users to see their phones as surfing devices.

Would we have seen the launch of phone application stores by both Nokia and Microsoft today if Apple's Apps Store hadn't shown there was a latent demand for useful, wacky or even totally pointless things to do on your mobile?

Quite.

Our take from what we've read so far about the stuff at Barcelona - the mobile web industry is still awaiting the "Microsoft MS-DOS/IBM PC" play as it is still far too fragmented. Apple will carve out its unique value chain segment, and may still play the main part, but in the past they have always carved out a large minority segment and mined it profitably, leaving the mass market to others. Can Android step up - well so far there is but one device out there, though more are promised - not exactly "internet speed" though.

However, as was pointed out in a recent Chinwag Future of Advertising event, the iPhone still represents the only low friction end to end web-mobile ad platform going.