NEWS: Mobile websites fail to satisfy users

<http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/19/mobile_internet_disappointment/>

If you can't buy stuff, is it really m-commerce?

E-commerce sites are putting their future success at risk by failing
to offer users the ability to buy through their mobile websites, a
new study has revealed.

The Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab looked at e-commerce sites
eBay, lastminute.com, and Odeon Cinema and the mobile offerings they
put forward. It found that mobile customers wanted to be able to buy
through their handsets, something some companies overlook.

The e-commerce giants' mobile offerings paled in comparison to their
fixed internet sites, with the lack of payment facilities being a
major bugbear for users. The report found that users were extremely
dissatisfied with some of the sites, and expected to be able to buy
content from lastminute.com and Odeon Cinema, or bid for items on
eBay through its mobile portal.

In contrast, Amazon and iTunes were the most sought-after mobile
e-commerce sites.

"Consumers were profoundly dissatisfied with the concept of only
using the m-commerce sites for research and pre-purchase evaluation,"
said Paul Brown, senior analyst, user experience research.

[MORE]

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John Navas FAQ for Wi-Fi: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi>
Wi-Fi How To: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_HowTo>
Fixes to Wi-Fi Problems: <http://wireless.wikia.com/wiki/Wi-Fi_Fixes>

---

› See More: NEWS: Mobile websites fail to satisfy users

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:45:39 GMT, John Navas <[email protected]>
wrote:

><http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/19/mobile_internet_disappointment/>
>
> If you can't buy stuff, is it really m-commerce?
>
> E-commerce sites are putting their future success at risk by failing
> to offer users the ability to buy through their mobile websites, a
> new study has revealed.
>
> The Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab looked at e-commerce sites
> eBay, lastminute.com, and Odeon Cinema and the mobile offerings they
> put forward. It found that mobile customers wanted to be able to buy
> through their handsets, something some companies overlook.
>
> The e-commerce giants' mobile offerings paled in comparison to their
> fixed internet sites, with the lack of payment facilities being a
> major bugbear for users. The report found that users were extremely
> dissatisfied with some of the sites, and expected to be able to buy
> content from lastminute.com and Odeon Cinema, or bid for items on
> eBay through its mobile portal.
>
> In contrast, Amazon and iTunes were the most sought-after mobile
> e-commerce sites.
>
> "Consumers were profoundly dissatisfied with the concept of only
> using the m-commerce sites for research and pre-purchase evaluation,"
> said Paul Brown, senior analyst, user experience research.
>
> [MORE]



Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] wrote:

> On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:45:39 GMT, John Navas <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> ><http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/19/mobile_internet_disappointment/>
> >
> > If you can't buy stuff, is it really m-commerce?
> >
> > E-commerce sites are putting their future success at risk by failing
> > to offer users the ability to buy through their mobile websites, a
> > new study has revealed.
> >
> > The Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab looked at e-commerce sites
> > eBay, lastminute.com, and Odeon Cinema and the mobile offerings they
> > put forward. It found that mobile customers wanted to be able to buy
> > through their handsets, something some companies overlook.
> >
> > The e-commerce giants' mobile offerings paled in comparison to their
> > fixed internet sites, with the lack of payment facilities being a
> > major bugbear for users. The report found that users were extremely
> > dissatisfied with some of the sites, and expected to be able to buy
> > content from lastminute.com and Odeon Cinema, or bid for items on
> > eBay through its mobile portal.
> >
> > In contrast, Amazon and iTunes were the most sought-after mobile
> > e-commerce sites.
> >
> > "Consumers were profoundly dissatisfied with the concept of only
> > using the m-commerce sites for research and pre-purchase evaluation,"
> > said Paul Brown, senior analyst, user experience research.
> >
> > [MORE]
>
>
>
> Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.

Yes, I think Apple has thrown a wrench in the works for all the talk of
having more mobile-friendly websites. Mobile sites are still clunky to
navigate-even the better ones.

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

Kurt <[email protected]> hath wroth:

(trimmed...)

>> Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.
>
>Yes, I think Apple has thrown a wrench in the works for all the talk of
>having more mobile-friendly websites. Mobile sites are still clunky to
>navigate-even the better ones.

I have a Verizon XV6700 running Windoze Mobile 5. The screen is small
(320x240 QVGA), but still very useful. With some effort, I can
navigate the larger web pages. List of WM5 friendly sites:
<http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/help/pocketpc/links.mspx>

There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
<http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.

This should be of help for iPhone web site designers. It's an iPhone
320x480 screen simulator for Safari.
<http://www.marketcircle.com/iphoney/>

eBay is a bit of a challenge but there are 3rd party vendors with
solutions:
<http://www.clickapps.com/ebay_for_windows_mobile>

The major problem for WM5 is the lack of Java. It's also a problem
on the iPhone. It's there, but not enabled:
<http://www.javalobby.org/java/forums/t98506.html>
Probably has bugs and they need time to work them out. Or, they
didn't bother to pay Sun the license fee. Dunno.

I think I figured out what most iPhone owners all have in common....
A general lack of patience.


--
Jeff Liebermann [email protected]
150 Felker St #D http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote:
>
> I have a Verizon XV6700 running Windoze Mobile 5. The screen is small
> (320x240 QVGA), but still very useful. With some effort, I can
> navigate the larger web pages.
>

Hope it didn't turn out like this:
http://www.ctaz.com/~mlynch/x/IMGP0809a.JPG


> There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
> <http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
> I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
> difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.

Or we just turn it sideways! <g>

Seriously, I've been surprised at the "full Web" experience the iPhone gives
me. Never once had that feeling on any of the WinCE/Winmob or Palm devices
(or any PDA or phone for that matter--heck I'll even throw "Smart" Display
in there too).

Thanks for the link.



--
Mike

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:48:29 -0700, "Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote:

>"Jeff Liebermann" wrote:
>>
>> I have a Verizon XV6700 running Windoze Mobile 5. The screen is small
>> (320x240 QVGA), but still very useful. With some effort, I can
>> navigate the larger web pages.

>Hope it didn't turn out like this:
>http://www.ctaz.com/~mlynch/x/IMGP0809a.JPG

Yep. Having the page scale to the screen size is a feature I don't
have on my xv6700. However, I can zoom in and out. Can you read the
CNN text on your iPhone or do you have to zoom in and out?

I just loaded CNN.com on my xv6700. Everything fits nicely as it
automagically rearranged the page to be narrow but very long. There's
no horizontal scroll bar showing, but the vertical is many pages long.
Good enough for me.

Also, try:
<http://www.google.com/pda/>

>> There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
>> <http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
>> I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
>> difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.

>Or we just turn it sideways! <g>

I also can do that on my XV6700. It helps with some web pages but
isn't a total solution. I rarely use the keyboard or turn the screen
sideways. Incidentally, my XV6700 has a touch sensitive screen. I
don't use that either because my fat fingers often hit the wrong
"button". Or, maybe I need target practice.

I'm curious. Can you run the iPhone with one hand?

>Seriously, I've been surprised at the "full Web" experience the iPhone gives
>me. Never once had that feeling on any of the WinCE/Winmob or Palm devices
>(or any PDA or phone for that matter--heck I'll even throw "Smart" Display
>in there too).

The iPhone is impressive from what I've seen (but haven't tried yet).
Whether it's worth $500 and having to deal with the new Ma Bell is an
open question. I have another year to go on my Verizon contract, so
I'll probably just wait and see what happens.

--
# Jeff Liebermann 150 Felker St #D Santa Cruz CA 95060
# 831-336-2558 [email protected]
# http://802.11junk.com [email protected]
# http://www.LearnByDestroying.com AE6KS

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:48:29 -0700, "Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>"Jeff Liebermann" wrote:

>> There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
>> <http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
>> I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
>> difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.
>
>Or we just turn it sideways! <g>
>
>Seriously, I've been surprised at the "full Web" experience the iPhone gives
>me. Never once had that feeling on any of the WinCE/Winmob or Palm devices
>(or any PDA or phone for that matter--heck I'll even throw "Smart" Display
>in there too).

Opera Mini J2ME and the Opera Mini embedded in my RAZR V3xx do a great
job of rendering most regular website.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:46:29 -0700, Jeff Liebermann <[email protected]>
wrote in <[email protected]>:

>eBay is a bit of a challenge but there are 3rd party vendors with
>solutions:
><http://www.clickapps.com/ebay_for_windows_mobile>

eBay has a very good WAP interface that works on most cell phones.

>The major problem for WM5 is the lack of Java. ...

That is indeed a major problem.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:24:10 -0700, Kurt <[email protected]> wrote
in <[email protected]>:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> [email protected] wrote:

>> Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.
>
>Yes, I think Apple has thrown a wrench in the works for all the talk of
>having more mobile-friendly websites. Mobile sites are still clunky to
>navigate-even the better ones.

Opera Mini J2ME and the Opera Mini embedded in my RAZR V3xx do a great
job of rendering most regular website.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:12:00 -0500, [email protected] wrote in
<[email protected]>:

>On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:45:39 GMT, John Navas <[email protected]>
>wrote:
>
>><http://www.theregister.com/2007/07/19/mobile_internet_disappointment/>
>>
>> If you can't buy stuff, is it really m-commerce?
>>
>> E-commerce sites are putting their future success at risk by failing
>> to offer users the ability to buy through their mobile websites, a
>> new study has revealed.
>>
>> The Strategy Analytics Wireless Media Lab looked at e-commerce sites
>> eBay, lastminute.com, and Odeon Cinema and the mobile offerings they
>> put forward. It found that mobile customers wanted to be able to buy
>> through their handsets, something some companies overlook.
>>
>> The e-commerce giants' mobile offerings paled in comparison to their
>> fixed internet sites, with the lack of payment facilities being a
>> major bugbear for users. The report found that users were extremely
>> dissatisfied with some of the sites, and expected to be able to buy
>> content from lastminute.com and Odeon Cinema, or bid for items on
>> eBay through its mobile portal.
>>
>> In contrast, Amazon and iTunes were the most sought-after mobile
>> e-commerce sites.
>>
>> "Consumers were profoundly dissatisfied with the concept of only
>> using the m-commerce sites for research and pre-purchase evaluation,"
>> said Paul Brown, senior analyst, user experience research.
>>
>> [MORE]
>
>Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.

No thanks. My RAZR V3xx blows it away.

--
Best regards, FAQ FOR CINGULAR WIRELESS:
John Navas <http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cingular_Wireless_FAQ>

"Jeff Liebermann" wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:48:29 -0700, "Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>"Jeff Liebermann" wrote:
>>>
>>> I have a Verizon XV6700 running Windoze Mobile 5. The screen is small
>>> (320x240 QVGA), but still very useful. With some effort, I can
>>> navigate the larger web pages.
>
>>Hope it didn't turn out like this:
>>http://www.ctaz.com/~mlynch/x/IMGP0809a.JPG
>
> Yep. Having the page scale to the screen size is a feature I don't
> have on my xv6700. However, I can zoom in and out. Can you read the
> CNN text on your iPhone or do you have to zoom in and out?

Generally have to zoom in order to read detail text. But zooming is pretty
much instantaneous, and having that full page view for some reason makes it
seem as if you are browsing regular Web pages. It's also intelligent in that
it will zoom to fit text width when you double tap, pop up a balloon with
the URL if you press-and-hold on a link, etc.


>
> I just loaded CNN.com on my xv6700. Everything fits nicely as it
> automagically rearranged the page to be narrow but very long. There's
> no horizontal scroll bar showing, but the vertical is many pages long.
> Good enough for me.

Yes I could do that with my Treo too. On the Treo (Blazer) that was called
"optimized mode." But it changed the format of Web pages, and was sometimes
confusing. I turned it off to compare, as best as possible (as you can see
cnn.com didn't turn out too well) how the two compared without trying to
reformat the page.

>
>>> There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
>>> <http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
>>> I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
>>> difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.
>
>>Or we just turn it sideways! <g>
>
> I also can do that on my XV6700. It helps with some web pages but
> isn't a total solution. I rarely use the keyboard or turn the screen
> sideways.

Neither did I much back in my PPC days. But the iPhone is really different
(can't believe I keep writing that). I often use it landscape mode as it's
practically second nature now. Keep in mind you just turn the thing sideways
and, presto, you have more horizontal space. And for some reason Apple has
seemingly wrung every last sub-pixel out of the display. It almost seems
more like 640 x 480.

Without a doubt it seems sharper than my Treo's 320 x 320, and it should be
less so since it's actually physically larger (taking into consideration the
extra 160 pixels in height, naturally). It's brighter yet has deeper blacks,
has more contrast, has more vibrant colors and color saturation, and is at
least 3x more visible in Arizona sunlight than my Treo's display. And I
*like* the Treo's display.


>
Incidentally, my XV6700 has a touch sensitive screen. I
> don't use that either because my fat fingers often hit the wrong
> "button". Or, maybe I need target practice.

I had that happen often with my Treo, usually when I wanted to do something
quick and didn't want to pull out the stylus.


>
> I'm curious. Can you run the iPhone with one hand?

To a certain degree yes--I've even got a technique for holding it in
landscape orientation when browsing the Web. I can hold it sideways and
still use my thumb for navigation. Ain't perfect but it ain't two hands
either.

The screen is also designed to be used entirely with fingers--you can't use
a stylus (I still sometimes reach for a stylus!). It's actually not that
hard to get used to, and there are lots of "little things" that sort of all
come together to make the whole thing easier to use.


--
Mike

"John Navas" wrote:
> On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:48:29 -0700, "Tinman" <[email protected]> wrote in
>>
>>Seriously, I've been surprised at the "full Web" experience the iPhone
>>gives
>>me. Never once had that feeling on any of the WinCE/Winmob or Palm devices
>>(or any PDA or phone for that matter--heck I'll even throw "Smart" Display
>>in there too).
>
> Opera Mini J2ME and the Opera Mini embedded in my RAZR V3xx do a great
> job of rendering most regular website.
>

Braille does an excellent job of rendering most text. So what?


--
Mike

In article <[email protected]>,
John Navas <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Thu, 19 Jul 2007 11:24:10 -0700, Kurt <[email protected]> wrote
> in <[email protected]>:
>
> >In article <[email protected]>,
> > [email protected] wrote:
>
> >> Simple answer. Get an iPhone with the real Internet.
> >
> >Yes, I think Apple has thrown a wrench in the works for all the talk of
> >having more mobile-friendly websites. Mobile sites are still clunky to
> >navigate-even the better ones.
>
> Opera Mini J2ME and the Opera Mini embedded in my RAZR V3xx do a great
> job of rendering most regular website.

"Most"- LOL. On a pitiful tiny screen, most look terrible. Opera on my
Treo (same imaging as yours) looks horrific. Real web has it all beat.

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

In article <[email protected]>, "Tinman" <[email protected]>
wrote:

> "Jeff Liebermann" wrote:
> >
> > I have a Verizon XV6700 running Windoze Mobile 5. The screen is small
> > (320x240 QVGA), but still very useful. With some effort, I can
> > navigate the larger web pages.
> >
>
> Hope it didn't turn out like this:
> http://www.ctaz.com/~mlynch/x/IMGP0809a.JPG
>
>
> > There are also some starts at iPhone friendly web sites:
> > <http://www.anyiphone.com/iphone-friendly-websites/>
> > I expect the list to grow as irate iPhone owners complain about
> > difficulties navigating overly complex web pages.
>
> Or we just turn it sideways! <g>
>
> Seriously, I've been surprised at the "full Web" experience the iPhone gives
> me. Never once had that feeling on any of the WinCE/Winmob or Palm devices
> (or any PDA or phone for that matter--heck I'll even throw "Smart" Display
> in there too).
>
> Thanks for the link.

Yes, I use the eBay mobile link for my Treo. Terrible. Scroling and
redrawing until the cows come home.
Why compromise when you can have the real web?

--
To reply by email, remove the word "space"

At 19 Jul 2007 23:30:47 +0000 John Navas wrote:

> >The major problem for WM5 is the lack of Java. ...
>
> That is indeed a major problem.

Java as in Javascript, or Java as in J2ME? If the former, 3rd-party
browsers like Opera Mobile or Netfront address that; if the latter, most
WM5 phones include a JVM,
although carriers occasionally remove it from their branded versions
(like T-Mobile did to my MDA.) An "unbranded" ROM fixed that for me, but
more conservative owners can download one without reflashing if need be.
I personally still haven't found a J2ME app to run that is preverable to
a WM-native app with the same functionality, however- i.e. the WM-native
version of Google Maps beats the Java version (although both pale to
Windows Live Search 2.0, which now includes one-touch rerouting if you
wander off-course.)



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