iPhone Searches on Google
There are 50 times more Google searches on iPhones than other mobile handsets according to Vic Gundotra, Google’s head of mobile operations, in the Financial Times. And now I ask everyone out there why web developers are still playing osterich about supporting mobile in their web solutions?
February 25th, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Even if a mobile website is coded using the most strictest standards etc, It is just too slow to be accessed via a mobile network(atleast in INDIA) so unless something really radical happens to speed up the browsing, It is still a pipe dream
February 26th, 2008 at 2:48 am
True at the current point in time bandwidth is an issue. But we are coming into an era when theoretical bandwidth won’t be our issue - the evolution towards G4 technologies.
Also, infrastructure may well be driven by the economics of demand.
But mostly, I think regardless of how much of a critical mass of users go into the mobile space a small percent is a lot of potential customers. If simply not providing for a small screen is going to lock your client’s customers out - on PDA for example - then its doing them a disservice. The paradigm of a desktop user as the norm is shifting so I don’t think its wise at all to develop just for desktop. I’d strongly suggest also that the web is global, your customers in many cases will be outside India. Therefore making sites which can evolve painlessly into this space is going to be more beneficial to you.
Even if that just means making sure your site works at 300px or less width, or doesn’t max out at full screen width on a 22 inch screen.
But you’re right about the bandwidth (perhaps in India) and the cost to consumers of mobile internet activity. Cameron Moll’s book Mobile Web Design has a good overview of the options available for mobile development.
http://mobilewebbook.com/