Warning: LONG post!

Lot’s of people have talked an awful lot about “Web 2.0″. Well, where was Web 1.0? I never heard anyone call the web “Web 1.0″ then all of a sudden Web 2.0 comes along. Well, Web 1.0 was the static web. You went to a website, the information was there and you read it. Maybe you added it to your bookmarks/favorites to check back on any updates, or maybe you signed a guestbook or newsletter. That was the most interaction you ever got.

Now, along comes Web 2.0, the cool and trendy, more mature brother of little Web 1.0. Web 2.0 has some nifty new features like interactivity that all the kids love. Who doesn’t want to record themselves badly lip-sync a britney spears song? It’s the “social web” featuring the likes of myspace, facebook, blogs and youtube. This is all well and good, but guess what’s coming next.

Is it going to be internet applications? “Semantic” web?

Well, kind of. It will be about having access to your tools and applications or files and folders anywhere. It will be about having a wealth of information at your finger tips which can be intelligently found for you by your search engine of choice. But that won’t be what it’s all about. Web 3.0 will be…

Mobile.

Web 3.0 will be about mobile computing. Being about to access your files and folders anywhere; on your phone, laptop, desktop computer, home computer, work computer, bob’s internet cafe down the street. Anywhere. Next it will be about working with these files and folders anywhere. You’ll be about to open up your contacts on any device, add someone, or edit a detail on that device, and it will instantly sync to your other devices. You’ll instantly be able to access it from where ever you want, with whatever you want.

Next, comes clarity. Ease of access. When you’ve just gotten off the plane in a new city on a business trip and it’s 11PM, you want to be able to quickly and easily find the best, most affordable place to stay near your location (using GPS or triangulation) and you want a map of how to get there. These will all be made possible, and more quick and convenient through the Semantic Web. This is a term describing a web where the meaning of the content and services are defined, enabling quicker, easier and more efficient searching and data gathering; which means it will be easier and more convenient to search the web than ever before.

Now, all these new technologies? People want access to them anywhere. People are tired of being stuck to a desk with big chunky desktop computers. Even laptops are rather big for whipping out and looking up directions quickly. This is where mobile devices come in. People want light, powerful, internet-ready mobile devices than don’t sacrifice power or battery time, whilst still giving them a full internet browsing experience. And guess which device is leading the pack?

The iPhone is a new breed of device. It has everything people think they want (phone, text, camera, maps, music, video, photos, internet and youtube) all in one tiny little device. One tiny little convenient device. Now this is the word we’re focusing on. People want convenience. Whether it’s accessing their stuff wherever they want, or getting better and quicker and more relevant search results, it doesn’t matter. What people want is convenience.

Let’s take a look at a few other technologies that have gone through the same transitions.

Movies
When movies first came out, the whole family would go done to the local cinema and cram into an old projection theater and watch a good old black-and-white silent movie. Ahhh, the good old days. Then in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, along comes VHS, Beta, Laserdisc and DVD. Woah! People can now buy movies, take them home and play them on their own television! Oh the convenience! Who woulda thunk it? Could things get any better? Could it even be possible for things to get even more convenient? Oh yes it could; along comes portable devices. Portable DVD players, Laptops, Video iPods, the PSP - even mobile phones can play videos now-days.

Music
Music used to be limited strictly to live performances. Maybe tommy from class learned guitar every Saturday and would play for the class a little every lunch time. Maybe Mum and Dad would take the family out for dinner once a month and a lovely blues band would be playing that night in Johnny’s cafe? The point is. You couldn’t really listen to music whenever you wanted to. But then along comes Radio, Vinyl, and later cassettes and CD’s. Finally! We can listen to our favorite tunes at home on the Record/Tape/CD player whenever we want! Don’t like that song? Rewind or Fast-forward to the next track! It really couldn’t be any more convenient, could it? But along comes…the portable Radio, Walkman, Discman and iPod. Tapes, CDs and finally digital music have all become mobile. Unfortunately vinyl never really made the lead of portability, but at least we can now take our favourite mix-tape with us on the school bus trip.

And now the internet…
The Internet started out as a very static medium. We could dial up on our blazing-fast 56k modems and yahoo! search for what we wanted and we’d find a website and read it. Maybe we signed a guest-book or sent an email, but we really hardly participated in the internet at all. Next comes Web 2.0. We start setting up profiles. We’ve got a myspace profile, facebook profile, last.fm profile, youtube profile. And we’re connecting with all our friends. We can post and watch videos, or purchase music online without even going to the video or record store. Oh, the convenience! But now, Web 3.0 is coming. And it’s coming everywhere. Wherever you want it, whenever you want it. We’ll be able to set up appointments on the go, post a new blog post about that guy who was in the front of the queue and took forever to order, or buy that cool song you just heard. All whenever, and wherever you want to.

My point is, this has happened before. I’ve given two examples, but it didn’t just happen with music and movies. Think about the telephone. It went from public phones, to home phones to mobile phones. People want things to be convenient. They want things and they want them now. Not when they get home to the computer.

Now, I’m not saying this will happen overnight. I’m not even saying it will happen in the next five years, but soon. Someday soon, the web will be mobile and Web 3.0 will be here.