The problem with the mobile web is that you have to connect online :-) There should be an advantage in that the mobile web is a platform for development which should mean less fragmentation i.e. you don't have to take 3000 unique characteristices into account when designing - which is currently a nightmare. You view the mobile web through a mobile browser. The browser allows you to view and do stuff on the page. There are also many different browsers within mobile devices e.g. on an N73 I had the default browser and the Opera Mini Browser. Each browser displays web pages in different ways. So Web and mobile Web committees have been working together to develop common standards and languages to help designers and mobile device users see the web pages as smoothly as possible. Mobile web design guides:

• .mobi Web Developer guide This is a very comprehensive guide designed for developers who are already familiar with web development in general, but now want to try their hand at mobile
• Mobile Web book by Cameron Moll, published in last couple of weeks, it assumes you have some basic understanding of Xhtml and CSS but if you're new to web design completely, this will help as well.

WAP 2.0 is latest standard - means that websites can be written in a few common languages - WML, XHTML-MP, XHTML-Basic and CHTML

Mobile web in order to design applications, will they be in the form of widgets, browser based apps - C.Enrique Ortiz on mobile browser based applications

Ajit Jaokar:

‘Android crossing the chasm’ post,

‘eleven architectures of the mobile web 2.0′ post 

‘comparing ecosystems with operating systems’ post 

Android with its development of an open stack releases the potential for others to not just be application developers, but also device manufacturers because they can now afford to develop them. With the development of the mobile web, you can also create and publish content using the web and it might be possible to avoid the development problems highlighted above - such as device interoperability and higher cost, (and speed to market?). With mobile phones currently outnumbering computers in terms of personal or group ownership, there may be chances that some people’s first or early experiences of the web at all, could be via a mobile phone or similar device.

Mobile web best practices , initiative - W3 specifications 

Mobiforge