Opinionated comments on mobile phone industry news
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All entries are written by Anders Borg, CEO and Consultant of Abiro, that has a long experience in strategic planning, developing embedded and Java software, usability aspects, and the mobile phone industry in general. You can also read the latest Mobile News entries on your phone via wap.abiro.com, and we provide many News Feeds from popular news services. For advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. News feed (local) FeedBurner Feed
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Web 2.0 not for phones?
David Wood at Symbian claims Web 2.0 services can't be directly transferred to mobile phones. That's a fact of course, due to current browser functionality, display real estate etc.
Yet it gets a bit confusing when also Ajax is mentioned. Web 2.0 is about service types (user-generated content etc), not specific technologies. Of course social network services can and will be (en masse) transferred to mobile phones, but they will have to be adapted to the different feature set of phones (both in terms of limitations, as well as additional functionality like a camera and location).
Quote: One way that Web 2.0 companies can similarly adjust their services for mobile devices is by relying less on browser-based applications and more on small software clients that users can download onto their phones. "The browser will fade into the background,"
That's an interesting point, as e.g. a Java ME application doesn't have the interaction limitations a phone browser based service has. Traffic can also be better optimized by transferring data only when relevant. There are issues with this approach though. Despite me being a Java ME afficionado, I'm well aware that it's easier to achieve cross-phone compatibility via WAP 2.0-based services than via Java ME. Also, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile have less cross-phone compatibility issues than Java ME, but are on the other hand much less prevalent in phones.
ShoZu is mentioned as one such service where an application is used to accomodate the user interaction and communication with the service. I'm not 100% for the ShoZu approach though: Most users only want to submit photos, not edit them via the phone, and in such a case simply emailing/MMSing the photo would be sufficient, and much easier than installing a special application. My advice to ShoZu is then to complement its use of an application for more advanced users, with an email gateway for everyday photo blogging. There's no conflict really, just more users.
Andy Tiller at Cognima (that made ShoZu) notes the barrier to installing applications: Downloading a client is a huge barrier, ... But right now, it's the best option
Actually, on most phones it's better/easier to use MMS or email if it's only about posting pictures.
See my Comments on Mobile 2.0 for more on Web 2.0 on phones.
Experts: Web 2.0 doesn't copy directly to phones | InfoWorld | News | 2006-10-18 | By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
Yet it gets a bit confusing when also Ajax is mentioned. Web 2.0 is about service types (user-generated content etc), not specific technologies. Of course social network services can and will be (en masse) transferred to mobile phones, but they will have to be adapted to the different feature set of phones (both in terms of limitations, as well as additional functionality like a camera and location).
Quote: One way that Web 2.0 companies can similarly adjust their services for mobile devices is by relying less on browser-based applications and more on small software clients that users can download onto their phones. "The browser will fade into the background,"
That's an interesting point, as e.g. a Java ME application doesn't have the interaction limitations a phone browser based service has. Traffic can also be better optimized by transferring data only when relevant. There are issues with this approach though. Despite me being a Java ME afficionado, I'm well aware that it's easier to achieve cross-phone compatibility via WAP 2.0-based services than via Java ME. Also, Symbian OS and Windows Mobile have less cross-phone compatibility issues than Java ME, but are on the other hand much less prevalent in phones.
ShoZu is mentioned as one such service where an application is used to accomodate the user interaction and communication with the service. I'm not 100% for the ShoZu approach though: Most users only want to submit photos, not edit them via the phone, and in such a case simply emailing/MMSing the photo would be sufficient, and much easier than installing a special application. My advice to ShoZu is then to complement its use of an application for more advanced users, with an email gateway for everyday photo blogging. There's no conflict really, just more users.
Andy Tiller at Cognima (that made ShoZu) notes the barrier to installing applications: Downloading a client is a huge barrier, ... But right now, it's the best option
Actually, on most phones it's better/easier to use MMS or email if it's only about posting pictures.
See my Comments on Mobile 2.0 for more on Web 2.0 on phones.
Experts: Web 2.0 doesn't copy directly to phones | InfoWorld | News | 2006-10-18 | By Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service
