You’ve probably heard the term “Web 2.0.” Although it’s a commonly used term, most people you ask in the web business can’t tell you what it means. To put it simply, it is just a label for the second generation of the web industry. But more importantly, it is meant to denote a change in that what we now believe in and stand for, which is not as it was before. The suffix 2.0 in technology implies that a product is new and improved, reinvented to be better and maybe even more relevant.

In the 1990s, we saw the adoption of the first generation of web technology, allowing businesses to create websites focused on the consumer market at that time. The “dot-com boom” was not about the Web; it was actually more of a boom in networking computers via the Internet, mostly driven by desire to use email as a communication and productivity tool.

In the early 2000s, the Web found its own voice. Though the technology had only incrementally evolved, the production costs dropped at the same time the market increased, creating exciting new opportunities to increase communications and productivity. Personal publishing became simple and easy to do, allowing more people to share more information and new ideas built on common problems to gain wider traction and adoption. The result was a fundamental change in how we create products for the Web, including everything from how we code, to how we design, even down to how we do business.

A few years ago, the mobile community started to discuss the idea of “Mobile 2.0,” borrowing from many of the same principles behind Web 2.0. Each of these principles serves to transform the Web into a more agile and user-centered medium for delivering information to the masses. Mobile development, under the bottlenecks of device fragmentation and operator control, is sorely in need of a little reinvention as well.

Following is a recap of the original seven principles of Web 2.0:

The Web as a platform

For the mobile context, this means “write once, deploy everywhere,” moving away from the costly native applications deployed over multiple frameworks and networks.

Harnessing collective intelligence

This isn’t something the mobile community has done much of, but projects like WURFL—an open source repository of device profiles provided by the community—is exactly what mobile needs more of.

Data is the next Intel inside

Mobile takes this principle several steps further. It can include the data we seek, the data we create, and the data about or around our physical locations.

End of the software release cycle

Long development and testing cycles heavily weigh on mobile projects, decreasing all hopes of profitability. Shorter agile cycles are needed to make mobile development work as a business. Releasing for one device, iterating, improving, and then releasing for another is a great way to ensure profitability in mobile.

Lightweight programming models

Because mobile technology is practically built on enterprise Java, the notion of using lightweight models is often viewed with some skepticism. But decreasing the programming overhead required means more innovation occurs faster.

Software above the level of a single device

This effectively means that software isn’t just about computers anymore. We need to approach new software as though the user will demand it work in multiple contexts, from mobile phones to portable gaming consoles and e-book readers.

Rich user experiences

A great and rich user experience helps people spend less time with the software and more time living their lives. Mobile design is about enabling users to live their lives better.

Although the mobile industry has been through many more evolutions than just two, the concepts behind Web 2.0 are some of the most important ideas in not just mobile technology, but the Web as a whole.