The main limitations that keep us from enjoying a complete experience during mobile browsing are usually associated with the device itself, but closely followed by lack of infrastructure and poor connection speeds in most countries. Within two weeks, Google will start a pilot test in Indonesia, where it will activate an experiment to present reduced search results and optimized pages, which in theory should load up to four times faster.
Presenting the best multimedia content and the most complete results is useless if people can't access them. Unfortunately, that's what happens in most of the world, and there are no signs that this will change in the short term. 2G connection speeds and limited data plans form a sort of perfect storm that turns mobile web into torture. In some cases, companies can't improve their services due to cost, while in others they have no interest in doing so. Thus we arrive at the need to implement deeper optimizations, such as the new pilot test that Google will carry out in Indonesia within two weeks.
The experiment
In simple terms, when an Android phone using Chrome or the standard browser detects a 2G or similar connection, Google will present reduced versions of each page, removing non-essential components. According to Google, this "optimization" of pages decreases data usage by 80 percent, pages load up to four times faster, and the improvement in response can lead to 50 percent extra in pageviews. The process is known as transcoding, and it will exclude more complex web pages, such as those that use cookies and offer video content. The most contentious point of the experiment is probably advertising. Although ads qualify as non-essential components, Google will keep intact AdSense, Zedo and Sovrn content, and hopes to work with other ad networks in the future.
Implications
On the one hand, the experiment may be good news for Indonesian users, who will enjoy a faster and more dynamic mobile web. On the other hand, several alarms are raised about net neutrality. Transcoding implies reclassifying content instead of treating it all the same, and I think that's the fundamental reason why the Mountain View giant has decided to present this initiative as an isolated experiment. At the same time, the choice of Indonesia is not a coincidence: Facebook just introduced Internet.org in that country, and it's already causing a stir.
