Few things I learned about the Mobile Web
by Stii
MIH Internet Africa has a very, very strong mobile web focus. I’m learning tons and tons of new things every day simply by talking to people. We also had the pleasure of meeting with Gabrielle Rosario who is a Mobile Marketing expert. She knows her shit, thats for sure! Now here is a couple of interesting things I’ve learned so far. Keep in mind that I myself am a total n00b when it comes to this. Some of this may be old news if your focus have been mobile for a while now.
Designers, boy, have I got news for you! If you think you had issues with browser compatibility, brace yourselves. You ain’t seen nothing yet! You should KNOW your XHTML mobile markup and you should be able to improvise and think out of the box. You are going to work with incredible constraints. Screen sizes aren’t 640 x 480, they’re even smaller. Usability is completely different. Its a whole new ball game. Javascript and AJAX is almost a no-no if you want your designs to work on a wider spectrum of phones.
Secondly, you’ll have to rethink almost everything. Mobile users are a different animal to web users. On the web things are simply easier. It is easier to type. It is easier to navigate. It is easier to browse. Web users browse a lot. Mobile users don’t necessarily. They are more often than not looking for information. Whether we’re talking about a Facebook social network type of application or an online business directory, they’re looking for information. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that Web users don’t look for information or Mobile users never browse. That is simply not true, but the predominant focus shifts.
What I find interesting is that I don’t often see bloggers blogging about their mobile traffic. I’ve seen them talking about their web traffic lots of time, alas, not really much about mobile. In fact, I’ve never seen that, but then again: n00b! Will this change? Bloggers do their blogging mostly on computers, not via their mobile phones. They more often than not have access to a connected computer. Why would they need to access the internet via their phones? I’m NOT going to sit at my computer connected to the internet and grab my mobile phone to check another site! That makes no sense. (Well, this ain’t true, but it is because I’m developing a mobile site :P ) More on bloggers and mobile in another post. Soon.
Lastly, Tyler Reed is much more clever than people think… No pressure Tyler! We’re looking forward to see what you cook up for us.
There are tons I’m learning and I will from time to time add interesting stuff I found here. Heaven forbid…
Lastly, I’m almost pissed off that Afrigator did not have a stronger mobile focus from word go. In hindsight, another one of my incredibly stupid things I’ve done. Oh well, there are always time for change, right? Right! Expect it. It is coming…
Afrigator works great on my mobile, although I’m no expert as well when it comes to m.
I’ve not targeted mobile users with my blog. I dont even know if there are any people visiting my blog with their phones. Interesting. I have not given enough thought about mobile. Maybe I should.
Ever since the great mobile rush of 2009, I must say for the first time in a while its been fun working with the web, albeit mobile web.
Some nice challenges and relatively new grounds to break into.
As for the limitations connected with mobile, well, to be honest, everyone knows that through limitation comes innovation (thanks twitter).
Evl, I was SHOCKED when I saw the statistic! It is insane and we don’t even realise it. I was exactly like you. Didn’t know and didn’t care. Trust me, now I do care!
Dewald, absolutely bud.
It could just be that I’m spessal, Stii, but I use both the ‘normal’ web and the mobile web. Atthesametime. Sometimes the mobile internet is just faster.
I go to bed with my k800i. She’s the first thing I see in the morning. But I love my laptop, too.
I like having choice. And you’re spot on: web developers need to give us that choice.
I blogged about this a while back: Even web 2.0 has a Digital Divide.
Joy, you are indeed unique! Although I suspect there are some of you out there. Rafiq also do that ;)
Ja, I hear you. Its a void thats screaming to be filled. We’ll do our part!
Stii, you just had to do it? But yeah, much agreed. The mobile web is one that is full of constraints and the problem we have is that the high-end devices (iPhone et al), won’t filter in to Africa fast enough, meaning we need to make sure our mobile websites work for even the most basic handset.
That said, I believe that the constraints that the mobile web imposes are great for innovation. However, my biggest issue is that the network providers, who are merely glorified ISPs when it comes to data traffic, need to open up or at least stop trying to control the mobile web.
Another thing I think is key is that Social Media can only flourish in Africa when everyone is connected, at the moment mobile devices are the connection. We need to see more services going mobile, the market is there!
Absolutely Tyler. I couldn’t agree more. The market is still in its infancy and so much potential lies there waiting to be snatched up.
#hahaha Thanks, Stii.
And yes, I’m sure there are properse ‘digital natives’ in SA; I’m only a ‘digital immigrant’.
It’d be interesting to see how they live their lives.