Why does optimalization of web pages for cell phones make sense
You can read in many forum entries that it is not necessary to make cell phone versions of internet services because you have Opera Mini and iPhone there. Authors of similar entries often derisively look on every new wap application (caution: for a long time wap is not only WML anymore). I think that Opera Mini is not bad tool (although I know better tools for web browsing) and iPhone definitely has its charm but transcoding or full browsing can´t surely replace optimized service!
These are the reasons why service providers will be optimising:
- if they want to sell mobille advertisements
- if they care about hight user-experience
- if they want to use specific possibility of cell phones
Now a little bit in detail with my subjective commentary :-)
It is all about money
| Most of the web service providers lives from the advertisement sale. But the rate for advertisement area in www version is successfully degraded with Opera Mini and even with iPhone so the only reasonable way is integration of mobile advertisement formats standardized with MMA.
Did you notice the paradox when now the opponents of mobile versions argue: "There is no need to make mobile version, when we have cell phones on which can web pages run" and hereat the world moves to statement: "There will be no need for web versions, when everyone will use internet via cell phone" If you look moreover to a fact that mobile advertisement have demonstrably higher click-rate, only insane would ignore this fact in his business plans and let only emulate the web in the interface of cell phone. As we can see, so the catalogue providers see the neccesity in optimalization as well. That demonstrates the mobile version wap.seznam.cz, and Ivo Lukačovič definitely does not belong to wap lovers. SEO is mobile today and optimalization for searchers an independent subject and you will get a lot of new users very really thanks to the existence of mobile version. We encounter this effect by every community service as a T-Mobile aggregation subject for WAP content. |  |
Satisfy users
Mobile internet is getting faster, that´s truth, and in addition for example Opera Mini saves data transfer with help of its own optimalization, but to be frank, the difference between optimized page loadup and unoptimized page loadup is still prominent and it will stay this way. It isn´t even about the users money today, because most of the wireless service providers reduces the prices within the competitors fight to a minimum, but in my opinion you can not ask the user to visit the mobile version on one hand and force him to roll up, zoom and wait on the other. Those of you who own iPhone, try iPhone version of Facebook (http://iphone.facebook.com) and you will understand. Moreover if the Opera Mini saves the data transfer, then only at the price of picture low quality and sometimes even at the price of scattered layout of original page.
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Sour: http://www.insidefacebook.com
Crook or new possibilities
I think that the whole question to optimize or not to optimize is about the complete point of view on mobile internet. Someone understands it only like an emergency solution when PC is not at hand and for those people will Opera Mini or iPhone be surely final and fair solution. But more progressive people take notice that cell phone offers a lot of new functions, for example:
- position localization
- upload UGC (user-generated content)
- possibility invoke a phone call or to send a SMS
So does to optimize make sense? Take view in symposium
