In 2007 the iPhone's launch forever changed the nature of mobile marketing, Web and content consumption. Expect 2009 to be yet another catalyst year, especially for the Web.

Shrewd observers of the mobile industry will notice a pattern among new phone launches. Almost all new mobile devices promise a better-app-download experience, more multimedia functionality, GPS and, equally important, a better browser for the Internet.

Indeed, each passing generation of mobile phone brings the devices closer to their squat cousins, the notebook and netbook computers.

As expected, it takes Apple to drive the herd toward this valley of innovation.

The new iPhone 3G S loads pages and downloads apps twice as fast as its predecessor 3G model and boasts a video camera -- a tad behind competition there -- that allows editing over the device itself.

Also new is the voice control feature that lets consumers use their voice to call or play music -- again, old hat for other competing phones, at least from the calling perspective.

In addition, there is a compass in the iPhone 3G S and a spotlight search functionality to search across the iPhone from one place. MMS functionality will go live sometime this summer.

But what makes the iPhone special is the Web experience. The Safari browser ensures a browsing experience unrivalled on most mobile phones worldwide, bar the Nokia Communicator model.

Now imagine what will happen to this browsing experience with an iPhone 3G S that's twice as fast as the iPhone 3G. It will yet again change the relationship between consumer and Web.

Add to that the affect of lowering to $99 the price of the basic iPhone. Users will still be able to surf the Internet. Only now more basic-phone users will be tempted to switch over to the iPhone due to the attractive price point.

Indeed, it's well-known that the iPhone over-indexes in terms of mobile Web consumption. Market data estimates show that 60 percent of all mobile Web traffic worldwide comes from the iPhone.

So even though the iPhone is locked into a deal with AT&T, its ripple effect has served all other carriers and consumers well.

Tour de force
Take Research In Motion, for example. The Canadian maker of the BlackBerry phone is quite aware that the iPhone is making inroads into its bread-and-butter enterprise market.

If it were not for AT&T's wireless connectivity issues and the iPhone's lack of a hard QWERTY keyboard, RIM would definitely be even more on the defensive than it is today.

RIM and carrier partner Verizon Wireless' response to the iPhone was a touchscreen BlackBerry Storm. For all its features, the Storm comes across as iPhone lite.

But what could change the game yet again is the launch next month of the BlackBerry Tour 9630 -- a world phone on a 3G network with a 3.2 megapixel camera, 256MB of onboard memory and an inbuilt media player, internal GPS and BlackBerry Maps, and a slimmer profile.

Another touted feature is a clear, high-resolution display that's 480x360 pixels with the ability to display more than 65,000 colors. Yes, that's straight off the BlackBerry Tour's specs Web page.

Add to that the usual strength of the BlackBerry -- email -- with the newly opened BlackBerry App World store and here's a phone that can proudly claim to stand up to the iPhone. All right, may be it will lag in the apps department, but everything else is just what a road warrior needs.

Verizon Wireless will carry the BlackBerry Tour.

Another device, the Palm Pre, again claims a sizeable screen and the ability to shuffle between different apps -- something the iPhone cannot do. Its browser is said to be as good as the iPhone's Safari.

Add to the list of these Web- and app-friendly smartphones new models from Android-supporting HTC and the Nokia, whose N97 model has yet to find a carrier partner in the United States.

Web 3.0
A common thread through most of these new iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm and Android models is their sharing of the same Safari open-source app framework Web kit.

So, overall, these new models promise a faster app download experience and a better browsing experience. It will take time for the other phones to catch up with Apple's library of 50,000-plus iPhone apps, but they can level the playing field by offering a similar Web surfing experience.

What road warriors need today is access to their communications -- emails, social media and SMS -- and the Internet. Apps will soon become a required feature as more brands educate their audience on the virtue of download and regular use.

While app downloads is still on a learning curve, Web surfing is not. As long as consumers are on an affordable or all-you-can-eat data plan, expect mobile Web traffic to increase exponentially.

Sure, there are plenty of skeptics who don't believe that consumers won't surf the Web on mobile the way they do on computers. Give them the tools and they will do it. Apple understood this simple truth with the iPhone and the BlackBerrys of this world are coming around to that idea.

There is no denying that the new smartphones on the market will revolutionize Internet consumption and functionality. It will be wise for most brands, publishers and retailers to start working on mobile or mobile-friendly sites.

Once mobile sites become as commonplace as wired Web sites, attractive and eye-catching mobile banner advertising will follow. Yes, the banner will live another day.

For those in the business of enabling companies to launch mobile sites, here's the potential: only 0.8 percent of all live Web domains are mobile-friendly.