Web2.0 has been a hot topic in recent years, from website to sales and to investment, everything has been put the name of web 2.0. Actually the concept of 2.0 was originally from release 2.0, the book of Esther Dyson, an American author. Later on an e-business magazine called business 2.0 was issued in US and the name was borrowed by web users in 2004. They used Web 2.0 this term to describe the situation that web industry has recovered from the deep valley of 2000But now instead of focusing on Web 2.0, more people interested about the coming Web 3.0. What it will look like? When it will come?

In the end of 2007, the number of online users all over the world has reached 1,200 millions. To this group of people, the possible direction of Web 3.0 may follow the next big application or the change of the net world. It is obvious that “mobile network” or “wireless network” may be the most possible direction for Web 3.0. Since Tim Berners Lee, an British computer scientist, invented web on 1989, it has been always applied on PC platform and all the services have been developed under PC environment as well.

The turning point of web dominant power shifting from US to East Asia

But PC is still too complicated; it can never be so instant available like mobile phone, this is also the reason why since 1999 mobile sales exceeded PC sales, the sales proportion of mobile and PC has reached 10:1. Therefore if web want to jump out of the screen on the desktop computer and involve more in people’s daily life, then the key is not on how perfectly it can work on PC but on how it can link with mobile phone or the another similar portable mobile tools closely.

Before, some people said that the screen on mobile phone was too small, but since the flip phone and slide phone have been released, the screen on mobile is enlarged greatly; some said that transfer speed of mobile phone was too slow, but now, we have WiFi and 3G; some said that the keyboard on mobile phone was too small to write email, but Blackberry has been fully accepted even by US customers; some said that mobile screen was not good for reading e-book, but currently Amazon.com has released a new electronic reader, called Kindle. It looks very like a mobile phone and it maybe the first step to make the E-book for mobile.

In a word, since mobile have been widely accepted as multifunction electronic product, now most barriers are only technical problems. Solving technical problems is much easier than changing people’s mind-set. Especially in East Asia, the speed of mobile network development in Japan and Korea is fastest in the world, and China may be the nation has biggest mobile online users population in the future, as they already have greatest number mobile users in the world: nearly 500 millions.

Web 3.0 will not just mean to transfer the technology from PC to mobile phone, but it will be the turning point of web dominant power shifting from US to East Asia. Of course there are some other factors we have to take into account. In China, mobile phone operators have too much power, comparing with them, the other parties in the whole industry chain are in a very inferior position. This situation is definitely not good to develop innovation services.

China needs to deregulate telecommunications industry

China needs to take one step further in open its market, not matter in giving licenses or sales. They should follow the example of US. In 1996, US passed Telecom Act, it greatly deregulated the industry, this is how later the internet industry can develop so greatly. Recently when US started to discussed about internet 2, most people agree to divide net providers from service providers, and let these two parties focus on their own duties.

This can be a good chance for China to have a leap in both National Competitiveness and Individual Productive Power. But we should not be over optimistic, because it relates to state-owned enterprises reformation and opening franchise rights, these are the issues can not be solve in one night. However, iphone have entered Chinese market, and 3G has opened after Beijing Olympic Games. Web 3.0 surely will come.

Edited By Vicky Yin