How users access mobile websites

[MobileDesigner]

Thought that this would be useful mobile research information for those in the mobile industry.

From their research, they state that the #1 way to access mobile websites is from the carriers official menu. #2 is entering the information directly into the url of the phone.

http://forum.mobiledesign.com/showth...hp?p=25#post25


.mobi would be useful

[Cartoonz]

Originally Posted by MobileDesigner

.mobi would be useful

with the scripting available to see the user is coming from a mobile phone and automatically shifting the target site to a mobile format version of the same site... .mobi is even more irrelevant than it ever was.

[Doc Com]

Originally Posted by Cartoonz

with the scripting available to see the user is coming from a mobile phone and automatically shifting the target site to a mobile format version of the same site... .mobi is even more irrelevant than it ever was.

Yes, that is a great script...providing your smartphone is capable of presenting the site to you in a decent viewing format to begin with.

A site done to .mobi compliant standards - you never have to worry about this script, that browser, those sites deciding for you what it feels is relevant for you to see.

On many sites that I have seen using my Helio Ocean, I have to switch back to HTML because the "this site has been formatted to fit your screen" automation sucks. Log in are omitted, true navigation is whacked, and most of the pertinent data for me is simply not there.

So, its switch to HTML mode. Then guess what happens? The scrolling is non stop as I try to navigate the full HTML site to again find what I am looking for. At least I recognize the HTML site so I am able to find my way around. But this auto-detection and scripting non-sense sucks.

Now, if I am a merchant (and I am), do you think I want to trust a browser or a script or an auto detect feature to make my sales pitch and sell my product?

Not a chance.

With that said, what is the point of .mobi?

Done right, .mobi is the only extension out there out of 260+ current extension (and the countless hundreds to come) that gives the assurance of a mobile compliant site that not all works on all smartphones, but all PDA's, Netbooks, notebooks and PC's flawlessly. It works across all platforms and all devices. That way there is no guess work if my message, my product, and my sales are lost in the translation along the way.

It simply works where others do not.

[Cartoonz]

the script I'm talking about merely detects that the user is coming in from a mobile device and, if it is, it redirects to a completely compliant version of the website.... so it does not rely on the mobile client to do anything.

phone user goes to website.com...
website.com detects phone user and redirects to compliant site at:
mobile.website.com or whathaveyou.

There is a remarkable number of sites that have taken the steps to include such a scheme to capture mobile users. Big tip there.... subdomains, not .mobi's.