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The iPhone obsession

quirksmode.org

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Re: The iPhone obsession

#31

Post by telemachos »

andrewl-hn wrote: post #27

Here's a list of popular smartphone OSes: - S60 - WinMo - iPhone - Android - Blackberry iPhone and Android are pretty much covered with good WebKit implementation. Check in one of those and most likely your page will work in the other. PPK claims that S60 WebKit is much inferior, but there's Opera Mobile 10 for S60 and for WinMo. Blackberry doesn't have a good browser at the moment (although they are likely to get on…

> iPhone and Android are pretty much covered with good WebKit implementation. Check in one of those and most likely your page will work in the other.

This is tangential. I would have thought you were right, but in my anecdotal experience, it's very much not the case. I have an Eris; wife has an iTouch. Our browsing experiences are night and day surprisingly often.

I'm picking this nit mostly because it surprised the hell out of me.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#32

Post by AndrewDucker »

jsz0 wrote: post #26

Wouldn't it be hard to target Nokia/RIM/etc? They have dozens of handsets. Different screen resolutions and even different rendering engines. Apple just made it easier by keeping the render/resolution consistent for the last 3 years. The other factor is Nokia/RIM/Microsoft really lagged behind Apple, Palm and Android in offering a modern standards compliant browser on their handsets. I think the assumption is people…

I have Opera on my Nokia mobile. Just as I did on my last Nokia mobile.

And yes, mobile phones come in different shapes and sizes, just like monitors come in different shapes and sizes. Design flexibly, so that your app is usable by people accessing it from anywhere.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#34

Post by evgen »

sykora wrote: post #21
chime wrote: post #2

First time I heard Quirksmode curse like a sailor. Regardless, the reason I can't develop for a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC is because I don't have a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC. I have an iPhone. It's pretty easy to develop webapps for it because if it looks good in desktop Safari, it will probably look good in iPhone Safari. I don't even know the browsers that other phones have. I know Opera Mini is on many phones and…

Users who use platform X and browser Y where your app doesn't work will simply switch to another app which does the same thing that was written by someone who _does_ care about all browsers. Those users won't complain to you, they'll just switch. Your loss.

If the effort to provide compatibility and an additional set of browser work-arounds exceeds the benefit given the insignificant share of traffic these other browsers provide then it isn't really a loss, is it?

Re: The iPhone obsession

#35

Post by anotherperson »

Here’s the thing: developing for the iPhone means that you are developing for any browser that supports web standards. Why bend over backwards for browsers on phones with archaic web browsing capabilities. If anything, it will force vendors to get with the HTML5 and CSS3 programs.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#36

Post by mos1 »

sykora wrote: post #21
chime wrote: post #2

First time I heard Quirksmode curse like a sailor. Regardless, the reason I can't develop for a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC is because I don't have a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC. I have an iPhone. It's pretty easy to develop webapps for it because if it looks good in desktop Safari, it will probably look good in iPhone Safari. I don't even know the browsers that other phones have. I know Opera Mini is on many phones and…

Users who use platform X and browser Y where your app doesn't work will simply switch to another app which does the same thing that was written by someone who _does_ care about all browsers. Those users won't complain to you, they'll just switch. Your loss.

I was with you until you said 'Your loss.'

That bit of snark ignores the reality that a developer has resource constraints, and they constantly have to decide how best to deploy their time, money and energy.

Failing to address some platforms might well be a big win. Claiming it's a definite loss is absurd.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#37

Post by chime »

madair wrote: post #13
chime wrote: post #2

First time I heard Quirksmode curse like a sailor. Regardless, the reason I can't develop for a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC is because I don't have a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC. I have an iPhone. It's pretty easy to develop webapps for it because if it looks good in desktop Safari, it will probably look good in iPhone Safari. I don't even know the browsers that other phones have. I know Opera Mini is on many phones and…

I think this article is aimed directly at you then. And clearly you disagree, sounds like because you don't feel like it. A lot of us don't really want Apple (or Google, or x, or y, or z) to be a monopoly though. And perhaps the people who do follow the advice to consider the other browsers and will help keep things on an even keel.

I disagree not because I don't feel like it but rather because I'm not certain it is the best use of my resources to develop, test, and debug my app in every browser out there. I just don't have the time/money/resources to do it. And I highly doubt most startups do either. So you target the top 5-10 and stick to it till someone complains.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#38

Post by PanMan »

michael_dorfman wrote: post #7
DannoHung wrote: post #6

Who are all these people with Nokia's? I have never met one.

Seriously? Or is this sarcasm. Here in Norway, Nokia has the largest share of the mobile phone market overall, and their smartphones are quite nice (and popular). At the moment, I'm trying to decide between buying an iPhone and a Nokia N97.

Get your hands on an N97 before buying one. The one I worked with last week seemed to crash just by looking at it. I literally had to pull the battery 3 times in the first hour, and it crashed on things like opening the SMS inbox. Don't know if I had a bad model, but it was one of the worst experiences I have ever had (and since I do quite a lot of mobile dev, I have seen quite a bit).

Re: The iPhone obsession

#39

Post by chime »

sykora wrote: post #21
chime wrote: post #2

First time I heard Quirksmode curse like a sailor. Regardless, the reason I can't develop for a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC is because I don't have a Nokia, Blackberry, or HTC. I have an iPhone. It's pretty easy to develop webapps for it because if it looks good in desktop Safari, it will probably look good in iPhone Safari. I don't even know the browsers that other phones have. I know Opera Mini is on many phones and…

Users who use platform X and browser Y where your app doesn't work will simply switch to another app which does the same thing that was written by someone who _does_ care about all browsers. Those users won't complain to you, they'll just switch. Your loss.

> Those users won't complain to you, they'll just switch.

In my particular case, I only make things that don't exist already i.e. I'm not making yet another twitter-posting app or social bookmarking app. So I highly doubt my target users will switch simply because my app doesn't work nicely on a browser I don't even know about.

Also the solution to this would be to show a small notification if my app is being run in an untested environment and let the user complain with a 1-click form if they wish. I think most people who have a bad experience will let me know that is the case.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#40

Post by PanMan »

All stats I see (and I looked at quite a bit of them) have iPhone traffic at 50% or more of mobile trafic. See e.g. Morgan Stanly: http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/21/how-the-iphone-is-blowing-e... While I agree you shouldn't _exclude_ the smaller browsers, it's not strange to optimize for your largest market share. PPK is right Nokia sells a lot of phones. However, people who buy nokia's aren't _using_ them to browse the web: They use them for phonecalls. Iphone users do.
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