Goin' Mobile

Just as we learned a decade or so ago that we couldn't paste a newspaper page onto a computer screen (OK, there are still a lot of newspapers that haven't quite learned that), it's time to learn that you can't paste a Web page onto a mobile phone or PDA screen.

It's no secret that mobile devices are on the rise as a medium for the publishing of news and information. But most news sites have been very slow to understand this—or if they have, they've done so clumsily. Every news site should be providing its readers the ability to get updates, at the least, via mobile devices; few do, at least in any way that's easy to use (or to find on the site).

And even though wondrous new devices like Apple's iPhone provide fullblown Web access, traditional Web pages aren't necessarily well suited—they're too dense in content and full of images to be conveniently viewed on a small screen.

Newspapers and other news providers should be looking closely at what smart companies Web like Amazon and Facebook are doing for visitors with iPhones and other devices: providing customized, "lightweight" Web interfaces that are better viewed on these small but ubiquitous devices. By detecting that a visitor is using iPhone's Safari browser, these sites provide quick-to-load, easy-to-view versions for mobile customers. Indeed, I've taken to standing in bookstores and ordering books from Amazon through my iPhone—it's faster than waiting in the bookstore checkout line!

The point is that these smart Web outfits are matching their content and interfaces to the devices that an increasing number of customers are using to go online. News sites should be doing the same thing—before somebody else takes away the mobile news and info business, too.

Comments

[Rocky]

Newspapers also need to think about the types of content people are looking for on mobile devices.

I'd love to see local restaurant reviews, calendars and other quick hit information available on mobile devices.

Here's a post I wrote on mobile content for newspapers:
http://blog.agrawals.org/2006/10/01/shovelware-20-the-mobile-web/

[Peter Wilson]

Hi Mark
Like you, I'm an ex-career journalist now online for a living. Thought you might like to check out Browserhawk, a browser sniffer. I don't really understand how anyone builds sites without this sort of software ...