Cloud Four Blog

First & 20 is web site about iPhone applications describes itself as a “collection of Home screens of some of the best and brightest developers, designers and tech writers.”

The name comes from the fact that you can only have 20 applications on the iPhone’s Home (or first) screen.

To date, the site showcases 35 home screens from various luminaries. The site also lists the most popular applications as:

• Tweetie – 21 home screens
• Things – 11 home screens
• Facebook – 10 home screens
• Birdfeed – 9 home screens
• Instapaper – 8 home screens

Unfortunately, First and 20 was wrong. These are not the most common applications on these 35 home screens.

Here is my count based on reviewing the 35 home screens. I gave extra credit for applications that were listed in the dock because they remain visible on every screen—not just the home screen.

The most popular applications are Phone, Mail and Safari. These are the only three applications that are on all 35 home screens.

Looking at the table now, it seems obvious that these applications would be the most popular applications. Of course people want to make phone calls, send email, and browse the web.

But as I mentioned in a previous post, because of the focus on the the iPhone and the iPhone App Store, massive changes are happening right in front of everyone’s noses and most people are missing them.

The number of articles talking about App Stores and strike-it-rich application stories vastly outnumber those talking about the explosive growth of the mobile web.

Consequently, many businesses are focused on how their going to build an iPhone application and missing the fact that those same iPhone owners are already probably trying to access their web site on their mobile phone and failing.

Should it be surprising that the most popular applications on the iPhone are Phone, Mail and Safari? No, but if you believe what you read in the media these days, these applications are underdogs when competing against the explosion of apps.

Making calls. Sending email. Browsing the web. There are apps for that too.

Morgan Stanley analyst Mary Meeker gave a fantastic presentation at Web 2.0 Summit that I’ve been meaning to post here for a few weeks. The presentation is rich with information and the slides are dense.

On slide 29, Meeker starts her argument that “The Mobile Internet Is and Will Be Bigger Than Most Think.” I encourage you to read her slides and watch the video of her talk. Both are embedded below.

I’ve been thinking a lot about how her title speaks to what is going on right now in most people’s minds when it comes to mobile.

There is so much focus on iPhone applications and the iPhone generally, that massive changes are happening right in front of everyone’s noses that aren’t being noticed or are being taken for granted.

Perhaps the simplest example of this is the explosive growth of the mobile web. We have analysts predicting that 1 billion mobile web users in 2010—more than the number of PC users accessing the web.

Opera continues to report exponential growth in usage of its Opera Mini browser—a browser designed for low end feature phones instead of smart phones like the iPhone. The biggest growth is happening in developing countries.

And despite all of this mobile web growth, most businesses aren’t taking the steps necessary to optimize their web sites for mobile devices. Some have iPhone blinders to such a degree that they undermine their own iPhone applications.

And its not just the mobile web. The same could be said for SMS, MMS, GPS, or cameras.

In her presentation, Meeker stated talked about this as a trend for 2009, but I don’t see this disconnect between the size of the mobile Internet and most people’s perception of it going away any time soon.

In fact, Meeker summarized succinctly what I’ve been writing and about presenting about for the last couple of years.

Therefore, I’m adopting her trend title as my theme for next year.

• 2010: The Mobile Internet is Bigger than You Think

That’s right. The mobile internet is already here and it’s bigger than you think. Are you ready? If not, what are you waiting for?