State of the web - HTML5

Out of context: Reply #10

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  • boobs0

    Mobile websites are really, really limited.

    1) Internet service on them is really slow. It's like being back on dial-up. Slow dial-up. If you're used to using a desktop with a broadband connection, mobile internet seems like a totally different, vastly inferior beast. Going around with my iPhone, and looking at even very prominent company's websites on mobile is painfully slow. Even the content for that little tiny screen takes A WHILE to load.

    2) A lot of people use their data plans on mobile devices for personal transmissions, like photos and videos, and steer clear of the internet. Because they pay for data by the byte, unlike desktop users who are usually unlimited, mobile users are more choosy about what they do.

    3) Many companies service their mobile clientele with a specific, frequently free, app. For instance, CNN, NYTimes, ESPN, and many large retailers, etc. I doubt that the average mobile user does much actual web-surfing from their phone. Even if that's their only connection. I know for me (not that I'm totally typical...), when I'm using my phone, I'm on the Twitter app, the Facebook app, the NYTimes app, the Netflix app, the YouTube app, Map app, Golf Channel app, Kindle app. I do almost nothing with the wee Safari app.

    3) Many mobile sites can just be replaced with a button to get the app. On many mobile sites, the most prominent thing on the mobile home page is the link to get the app.

    4) There are a few places that I still use the browser on my phone. To check information at the library, to see if I a book I ordered came in, and I should pick it up. And to check my bank balance. In both cases, checking on the phone is a pain in the ass compared to doing it from a desktop.

    5) I do almost no web searches from my phone. When I do search, it's in the maps app for a specific thing, like the nearest decent restaurant, or gas station. In other words, I'm not even going on the web to do the vast majority of my searches.

    6) To an extent, the premise of commercial sites on the web, at least for small businesses, is that someone may stumble across your site while surfing the web, or searching, and then learn about your business, and decide to become a customer. Or, they hear of your business, and then check you out online, before committing to coming to the store, or calling you up. I have a hard time imagining that happens very much on mobile devices.

    7) How often have you found new cool websites while surfing the web on your phone? How often have you looked up a new business while surfing the web on a phone? Now, granted, almost all of us are using desktops with broadband, and that's where we do most of our surfing.

    8) I've got to imagine that people using the internet, strictly from their mobile phones, are using it vastly differently than people who view the net from a desktop. I imagine they try to avoid using the browser as much as possible, I bet they use dedicated apps just as often as they can, and that there isn't much "discovery" on mobile as there is on desktop.

    boobs 0Permalink
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