Mobile Web Browser
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History of the Browser on the mobile browser
The first micro browser was first deployed in 1997 by Unwired Planet for AT&T phones. It was called their "UP.Browser" and gave access to HDML content. Even though it didn't do much it has led us to where were are today and looking at almost any web page out there.
There have been many mobile browser since the initial "UP.Browser" slowly getting better and better. Ranging from Microsoft Mobile Explorers to the many Opera web browsers. Smart phones are the main device that run the mobile browser since they are made to be a hand held computer.
Nowadays smart phones can view almost any website now being able to view almost any website however, due to bandwidth its a challenge for them to support rich Flash and Silverlight applications.
Browsers today
Opera Mobile is the best mobile browser to date. The latest version 8.51 supports CSS, Javascript, Ajax, WML, basically anything you can name. Also it has a Small Screen Rendering mode where it makes the site fit on your screen without the horizontal scroll bar. It can only be bough as a add-on to the Windows and Symbian Smart-phones which is a little bit of a draw back.
NetFront is second best to Opera Mobile only by a little bit though. NetFront has been ported almost everywhere more than just phones and PDAs but some TV boxes, Sony's PSP, and even more. NetFront 3.3 supports some CCS and some javascript. Netfront is mostly used by Sanyo but just aqquired a contract with Sony Ericsson.
Nokia's S60 Brower is thought to be the next big mobile web browser. There is no official name for it yet. This browser uses Apple's and KDE's javascript and HTML engines, but the newest innovation it has is the "minimap" feature that allows you to navigate the web page by a little thumbnail picture. The downside is it lacks some of the components needed to run on other phones.
Mobile Browsers effect on Websites
Now with smartphones being able to access more websites and material in general web sites are starting to dumb down their website taking away much of their high memory flash applications. With a 3G network and now a 4G one, smartphones can get even better bandwith and run more websites with rich application of flash. The percentage of traffic to web sites coming from phones is increasing and as of now its in the range between 3%-10% range only to get higher.
Bibliography
http://www.phonescoop.com/glossary/term.php?gid=385
http://www.bizcommunity.com/PressOffice/PressRelease.aspx?i=120958&ai=38642
http://www.osnews.com/story/13446/Introduction_to_Phone_Web_Browsers
http://edgewatertech.wordpress.com/2008/12/02/top-5-web-technology-trends-for-2009/