Ready or not: Content management is going mobile

Not having the opportunity to own an iPhone due to lack of coverage by phone carrier AT&T, I haven't been a smartphone user. Then a few weeks ago my carrier, Verizon, introduced the Motorola Droid and I purchased my first smartphone.  Since then, I've been carrying the Droid where ever I go and taking full advantage of the phone's features.

My experience with the Droid has forced me once again to question what I know about Web content management and best practices. I knew I would use the phone for social media aspects (Facebook, Twitter) but I've been surprised at how much I hungered to read content from various Internet sites. Despite the iPhone and the Droid both having good Web browsers, I've come to the conclusion that reading content on a smartphone for a site like CMSReport.com still sucks.

How much further do content management systems need to go to deliver content to the mobile user as well as the touchscreen tablet folks? Delivering content to mobile users has to be more than just stripping off the site's cosmetics and delivering only text. Though, I suspect that's what most of us will do as a lot of time and money would be involved. Also, I don't think it's just the delivery of content that needs to change for mobile devices but also how we manage the content that will also need to change. I think the challenges are enormous and wonder if we're really ready to deliver on the promises we're making.

One such promise that is being made for the tablet folks is the vision being provided by the publishers of Sports Illustrated. This vision for hypermedia isn't new but perhaps we're a lot closer now to having this vision become reality as our smartphones, electronic books, and tablets advance forward into the future.

Update: I should have mentioned that the Wall Street Journal included a story in Wednesday's edition regarding how businesses also starting to cope with the change mobile devices for viewing content. The article is titled, "Squeezing Web Sites Onto Cellphones - Businesses Try to Shift Online Communities, Consumer Forums to Places Tailored for Wireless Users".