engine - 1:51 pm on Jun 27, 2006 (gmt 0)

Some of the world's top wireless and Internet companies, including Nokia, Vodafone Group Plc and Google Inc., have agreed on a set of Web site development guidelines aimed at making it easier to surf the Internet on cell phones. The majority of cell phones today have Web browsers as wireless providers hope to expand beyond voice services, but only about 19 percent of U.S. mobile phone users regularly use the Web on their phones, according to researcher M:Metrics Inc. The Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C), a group backed by 30 industry players, hopes to improve on this percentage by creating 60 guidelines for developers to design sites that are easy to use on cell phones, which have much smaller screens and tiny keypads.

Wireless firms agree on rules for mobile Web sites [today.reuters.co.uk]