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The iPhone obsession

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Re: The iPhone obsession

#51

Post by tomkarlo »

fab13n wrote: post #43

Sales figures are not relevant. What matter are: - proportion of devices currently subscribed to a data plan; - time spent online / number of pageviews per device; - for businesses who don't plan to be profitable in the next couple of months, what OSes will be actually used for mobile web surfing in the future; - which users have been trained by an AppStore-like system to easily spend money online. Nobody in his righ…

I agree right up to the comment about RIM: if you look at their recent efforts they are clearly holding their own in the teenage / budget smartphone market for families that want the email/txt capabilities of iPhones at a lower price point (or don't want to be on ATT.) I don't think RIM does a great job of serving this market but their price point is still well below Apple's and they're on more networks, and hopefully they will eventually get their act together in the browser area (although that will not help all the old units they have out there.)

Re: The iPhone obsession

#52

Post by tomkarlo »

jonknee wrote: post #12

At least in the US, a lot of designers have an iPhone (and so do their friends). I think it's also likely that the iPhone was the first mobile device they have ever used the internet on. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking that since me and all my friends only use the iPhone everyone else does to.

I don't agree. The iPhone was at least my 4th or 5th device that had some kind of "mobile web" function. Most folks had smartphones, blackberries, etc before they got an iphone if they had any interest in the net. The problem was, the reality of tying to actually _use_ these devices to access web sites was such a horrible UX that you didn't do it unless there was absolutely no other option. In comparison, lots of us will idly web browse on an iPhone while waiting on line at the store, etc -- something that probably would never have happened on a Blackberry.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#53

Post by howcool »

This guy is sounding more and more foolish, and pretty wacky. he used to be cool. What the heck happened to him I wonder? Maybe he can't get an iPhone where he lives.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#54

Post by eldenbishop »

He is missing/ignoring the obvious. Although the iPhone may only be 15% of the smartphone market in terms of units shipped, it represents something on the order of 98% of the market in terms of user dollars spent on applications. This is the only number that matters if you are selling an app. The number of installed platforms is meaningless.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#55

Post by jcromartie »

I'm not sure what he's talking about. I don't mean for that to sound snarky. I just feel like I'm being yelled at when I honestly don't know what I did wrong. When I start building a web app I start with standards, assuming that my early adopters will likely be using Safari, Firefox or Chrome. Mobile Safari usually Just Works(tm). Is he talking about custom iPhone stylesheets or what?

Re: The iPhone obsession

#56

Post by AndrewDucker »

jsz0 wrote: post #46
AndrewDucker wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Any phone's browser(s) should be capable of displaying the regular non-mobile site. I assume the author is referring to the iPhone specific/enhanced sites out there.

Displaying a non-mobile site on a screen that small is...of less than perfect utility.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#57

Post by yumraj »

DannoHung wrote: post #6

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

Everyone and their mom and pop in India, those who have nicer phones, have a Nokia. But, yes, you're right, here in US I don't see them very often. I'm only taking about the smartphones.

The cheaper phone market in India is pretty fragmented.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#58

Post by jmtulloss »

jcromartie wrote: post #55

I'm not sure what he's talking about. I don't mean for that to sound snarky. I just feel like I'm being yelled at when I honestly don't know what I did wrong. When I start building a web app I start with standards, assuming that my early adopters will likely be using Safari, Firefox or Chrome. Mobile Safari usually Just Works(tm). Is he talking about custom iPhone stylesheets or what?

Yes, there are many sites that are designed for mobile devices that target the iPhone specifically instead of all mobile devices.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#59

Post by KirinDave »

vetinari wrote: post #48
KirinDave wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And those phones have a web experience worth targeting? I understand that Nokia has a lot of phones out there, but the vast majority seem only tangentially related to the discussion of smartphone apps. It's fairly easy to kick together a "mobile" version of a site. Just use these simple CSS rules: img { display: none; } body { hideous-eyebleach: true; } For many phones, just having 0 style, 0 images and a few text fi…

Well, given that Nokia S60v3 browser _is_ webkit, I don't think that the results with your suggested stylesheet would be satisfactory. Would you accept it on your iphone?

If the phone is worth targetting, then target it. I'm just saying that arguing Nokia's total phone market share seems like a sort of sketchy way to extrapolate priorities for smartphone-enabled websites.

Does the Nokia S60v3 have large market share worth targeting? The reason Android and iPhone markets have such gravity is that they're large and relatively homogenous consumers of rich web content from the mobile space; maximum bang for minimum buck.

I really think that this article is just wrong, and its willingness to confuse rich-web-enabled smartphones with phones that can barely display unstyled webpages is what drives me to that conclusion.

Re: The iPhone obsession

#60

Post by trezor »

awolf wrote: post #28

"First, so what? No, let me rephrase that: So fucking what? Since when does web development mean leaving 50% of your mobile users out in the cold? Since when is “I only support browsers with a large market share” a valid argument? (Answer: since we have an iPhone up our ass.)" A device has more than 3x its market-share in traffic-share and we are supposed to ignore that? That doesn't seem realistic. This gap between…

Maybe developers aren't just obsessed with the iPhone: maybe they just don't want to develop for something that makes thier work look like shit.

Oh you mean how people decided to develop for MSIE6 only because Netscape was kinda weak in comparison?

I think you missed the central point of this guy's rant.

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