On the bus, in the train or at the airport - teenagers are listening to their music, children are playing on the latest portable gaming device (PSP, Gameboy etc.), and business wo/men are reading the latest headlines (every so often stopping to timidly check their Blackberries).  So the question isn't whether we are 'plugged in' or not,  but whether or not we are taking full advantage of what today's technology has to offer us, when we're on the go.

I think it's safe to say that most of us have a cell phone, and at least us Europeans spend alot of money, time and effort to own the latest, coolest phone on the market.  My cell phone reads out my SMS text messages, tells me the caller's name (yes, it actually phonetically says the caller's name) and updates the background image (wallpaper) to a picture of a notable site within the country you are in.  The sky even changes depending on what time of day it is.  But, so what?  Still, the best I can muster when I'm sitting alone waiting for the bus is to listen to my iPod.  In fact, if I was at home, I could Google Earth the very same bus stop and spend hours looking at satellite images of the neighbourhood.  In other words, we are all looking for something to keep our minds off the boring repetition of commuting, since the place we're trying to get to, clearly, is alot more fun.  In the end, listening to music won't give me something to do, although Dave Matthews is notable company.

So, the demand is there, but where is the supply?

At the airport last Friday, I was sitting at a coffee shop, waiting to board my flight that had already been delayed two hours, when I thought to myself: "Hey, why don't I debug the new Wadja mobile site (http://m.wadja.com), before it goes live next week, since I have nothing to do!?"  So I got onto the site, checked my emails, downloaded a bunch of free ringtones and funny videos for my phone, and even made a couple new friends browsing the mobile site. After that I decided to go to Google and see what other mobile sites are out there.  I was pleasantly suprised by the amount of results I located, but I say this with reservation because most of the sites were either USA-oriented or had some sort of download program you needed to install and run.

The mobile internet is, however, heavily understated, because I located everthing from social networking, to instant messaging, online phone book backup and restore, address books, calenders, memos, photo-music-video media sharing, RSS feeds, and even hotel bookings all over the world. And that was only after dedicating 15 minutes of otherwise wasted time.  Moreover, the user interface of many of the sites are developed beyond common expectations (scroll down for screenshots of the Wadja mobile site currently in Beta).

The best part?  I could surf the mobile internet with my phone and listen to Dave Matthews on my iPod all at the same time!  Turns out they're not mutually exclusive.