Russell Beatties iPhone Effect

So last night Jaiku tells me “Mowser is Dead” with a link to Russell Beatties latest blog post. A year after it was first made public Mowser shut it’s doors. The service will remain live for now but development has stopped and there is no guarantee that it’ll be up in the future.

Mowsers demise is news in itself, but it seems Russ didn’t want to leave without a parting gift to the Mobile Community. “The Mobile Web is Dead” is the best way to generally summarise the points he makes in Mowsers farewell post, and it seems to have had the effect I think he was hoping for.

Just as the iPhone got people talking about the future of Mobile, Russells bold proclamation has got everyone talking about the future of the Mobile Web. Some agree with him, many don’t but the numbers don’t matter because the conversation has just been jump-started again.

Already I’ve been seeing loads of Tweets about the Mobile Web, most of the posts I’ve linked to have active debates going on in their comments and people who might not have normally cared are starting to take notice.

So thanks Russell for giving the conversation a good kick. I’ll miss Mowser, especially as it powered the mobile version of this blog. Russ and Mike are both fantastic, talented guys and I have no doubt that they’ll both land on their feet (and if you’ve got any opportunities available, get in contact with them). Mike is sorting out the Mowser fire-sale so if you’re interested in the technology behind the service, get in contact with him.