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 be changed. 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.

I was reading an article this morning regarding the use of ARM-based chips in a number of devices including "smartbooks". It appears the industry would like you to now call those smaller and less powerful laptop computers a smartbook instead of netbook.

To describe these devices as a smartbook is idiotic marketing for two reasons. First, "netbook" is a term that has been around for two years and most people today recognize the term being applied to smaller sized notebooks. When you hear the question, "What is a smartbook?" it seems very natural to just answer by replying, "a smartbook is a netbook". Secondly, I have to say it's very moronic (worse than ironic) to call a dumbed-down notebook a smartbook. At least when you say "smartphone" it is in reference to increased functionality over the traditional mobile phone and not less functionality.

I do not like the word "smart" being attached to devices and applications that are far from actually being intelligent on their own. Is marketing that insecure in the devices they're selling that they need to attach the word "smart" to cover up their own lack of intelligence? I have a theory that any time we attach the word "smart" to software or devices it is inviting doom into our lives.

Although I'm not a big BlackBerry fan, I can't help but think having the Open Source Wordpress for BlackBerry application on the device would be pretty cool. This application for writing, managing, and editing your blog works whether your blog is found at Wordpress.com or self-hosted.

BlackBerry operating system OS requirements are OS 4.2.1 or newer. In other words, Wordpress for BlackBerry should work on any of the newer BlackBerry smartphones including the 8700, Pearl, Curve, Bold, and Storm.

The BlackBerry application is currently in beta.

I'm one of the unfortunate souls that is a Verizon customer.  I'm unfortunate in the sense that my cell phone company has been very slow in bringing modern SmartPhones with full browser and Wifi capability under their service plans.  Oh how I would love to have an iPhone or G1 Android in my hand, but neither AT&T nor T-Mobile includes big 'ol South Dakota in their service plans.  But someday things may change and I might get the iPhone or possibly even better, the Palm Pre (we have Spring here!).

I've been extremely interested in the Palm Pre since Palm first made their product announcements earlier this year.  How well the Palm Pre can compete with the Apple iPhone is up in the air, but I'm hopeful.  Today, I really enjoyed this article at CNET, Can a Palm Pre multitask better than an iPhone?

Ever since its January coming-out party at the Consumer Electronics Show, Palm has generated buzz for the Pre unlike any other phone released since Apple's iPhone arrived in June 2007 (that includes impressive phones such as Research in Motion's BlackBerry Bold and HTC's G1 Android phone.) The two phones will be forever compared--not just because of their consumer-oriented styles and emphasis on gesture-based user interfaces, but because of the very real enmity between the proud team that worked on Apple's historic iPhone breakthrough and the ex-Apple executives and engineers attempting to rebuild Palm.

While the iPhone has set the standard for future smartphones, Palm's WebOS delivers two important improvements that the iPhone can't yet match: true multitasking between applications, and a subtle notifications system that doesn't interrupt your train of thought. It does that while unveiling its own stamp on the multitouch user interface that Apple introduced to the masses with the iPhone and finding room for a slide-out hardware keyboard favored by CrackBerry addicts.

Be sure to read the rest of the article. Perhaps, someday Verizon will get smart and get into the game.  Meanwhile, I'll be weighing my options.