People went a-browsing when they unwrapped their iPhone gift, leading to a spike in Google searches from iPhones on Christmas Day. One takeaway from that is that having a great browser is the secret of the iPhone and the future of mobile. That’s just a piece of it though. The iPhone points the way because it is a great browsing device. It’s not just that it has an efficient browser, it is that it has a screen and features that make it pleasant to surf the web and do the sorts of things people like doing with their PCs, except handier.

Web-enabled mobile phones are no doubt the future of the mobile business in the US. Pulling that off though will require a catalyst that brings browsing, devices, content, and connection speed together. Maybe Apple will pull that off, maybe it will just show others the potential, or maybe the dysfunctional mobile phone ecosystem in the US will just trudge along for a few more years. Any way—we’ve seen the future, we just need to figure out how to get there.