Rants And Ramblings About Mobile Technology |
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Anders Borg writing about the fun and crazy world of mobile technology. You also can read the blog via Twitter or your phone via wap.abiro.com. See the left menu for more news services. Comments on blog entries are moderated, but I'm rather liberal as long as it's not blatant advertising. For general comments, advertising and contribution queries, please use the feedback form. |
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Thursday, September 27, 2007
Bitching about the mobile Web
Update 20071002: Stephen Wellman at InformationWeek counters by saying 'The Top Five Reasons The Mobile Web Rocks', using the same topics. The fight is on...
Here's a rant from DigitalMediaWire on the issues with the Mobile Web, with some arguments of my own:
1. Wireless carrier networks are SLOW
True, but I find that using Opera Mini is sensibly fast even on GPRS. Browsing PC web pages on a mobile in a browser that downloads the full content can be a pain even on 3G, and it's expensive.
2. Public WiFi access is a SCAM
Yes it is. No more comment needed. Wireless WAN (like WiMAX) is needed for this to work.
3. Sites aren’t formated for small screens
True:
* There's yet little business incentive to make mobile-optimized sites. At least perceived such.
* Web designers don't understand mobile.
What companies haven't yet grasped is that mobile is everywhere and everytime, while PC is way more locational and occasional. That in itself changes the conditions for services, marketing etc.
4. Mobile device screens are too small
True and comes with the territory. Higher resolution doesn't help, beyond a certain point, as you can't read and see what's on the screen. Bigger screens make the general mobile experience suffer. Hence, there's no ideal way to solve this, but phones that are "all screen", like the iPhone is a good step in the right direction.
5. Advertising gets in the way
Text-only advertising is fine in my opinion, but picture ads can be annoying due to the small screen, but what most people don't know is that the consumer pays for downloading the ads. When talking picture ads, they can easily be larger than the other page content, which will show up on the phone bill.
Here's a rant from DigitalMediaWire on the issues with the Mobile Web, with some arguments of my own:
1. Wireless carrier networks are SLOW
True, but I find that using Opera Mini is sensibly fast even on GPRS. Browsing PC web pages on a mobile in a browser that downloads the full content can be a pain even on 3G, and it's expensive.
2. Public WiFi access is a SCAM
Yes it is. No more comment needed. Wireless WAN (like WiMAX) is needed for this to work.
3. Sites aren’t formated for small screens
True:
* There's yet little business incentive to make mobile-optimized sites. At least perceived such.
* Web designers don't understand mobile.
What companies haven't yet grasped is that mobile is everywhere and everytime, while PC is way more locational and occasional. That in itself changes the conditions for services, marketing etc.
4. Mobile device screens are too small
True and comes with the territory. Higher resolution doesn't help, beyond a certain point, as you can't read and see what's on the screen. Bigger screens make the general mobile experience suffer. Hence, there's no ideal way to solve this, but phones that are "all screen", like the iPhone is a good step in the right direction.
5. Advertising gets in the way
Text-only advertising is fine in my opinion, but picture ads can be annoying due to the small screen, but what most people don't know is that the consumer pays for downloading the ads. When talking picture ads, they can easily be larger than the other page content, which will show up on the phone bill.
