For years now, the mobile internet has been in the telecoms equivalent of the horse and cart era. Constrained by obscure pricing and the unwillingness of operators to open their platforms to third parties, the mobile internet portal has sat largely unloved on the home screen of most handsets.

A recent survey by TBG, a digital advertising agency, suggests that only 13 per cent of mobile owners use the internet on their phones - and that for 53 per cent, the ability to browse the web would be unimportant in the choice of their next handset. This is despite the roll-out of so-called super-fast 3G networks that, according to O2, cover 80 per cent of the country.

A number of factors suggest that the mobile web may be opening a new page, however. First, the increased availability of flat-rate plans that allow unlimited web access as part of the phone contract means that fewer consumers will be frightened off by the thought of a huge bill at the end of the month.

Secondly, the arrival of Apple's iPhone has set a benchmark for other handset manufacturers that are trying to make it easier to navigate on a small screen.

Thirdly, Apple's App Store - a website that allows iPhone owners to download all manner of small, web-based applications and install them on their device - has given a taste of what mobile phones could become if operators are willing to open up their portals.

Furthermore, before the end of the summer, manufacturers such as HTC, Motorola, LG and Samsung are due to release the first phones that run on the Google-backed operating system Android. The roll-out of Android, which will offer a vast online store of web-based applications for phone owners to download, will dramatically increase the number of people who can access web-based content on the move.

Finally, the number of “smartphones”, which offer better browsing, continues to increase. According to Canalys, a research firm, global shipments of high-end devices such as BlackBerrys and Nokia's 95, which run on more complex software, rose by 60 per cent to 115 million last year.

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