Travelling light
Posted on Friday, March 16th, 2007 at 4:56pm. #
Over the last few days, the only computer I’ve had with me has been my BlackBerry. (I’ve been speaking at a mobile TV conference In Munich, and, for the last two days, holidaying in both Munich and Innsbruck.)
What impresses me is how available websites are to a Blackberry; my own little website PocketWeb is still useful in finding the special mobile URLs, but all in all, most websites are perfectly usable. I’ve approved comments, done a bit of email work, and done a ton of Google Reader reading; indeed, this blog entry is being posted from the train between Innsbruck and Munich. (NickP might like to know that it’s another crap Italian one).
Just as usable is the Virgin Radio website, I know from previous experience (though I’ve not bothered visiting it over my two precious days holiday). Access from a Windows handset, and you should even be able to listen.
Indeed, I even did some work on the station Electronic Programme Guide from the Blackberry while in conference. Neat.
Some people claim that the majority of web surfing will be through a mobile phone in the near future, pointing to South Korea as an example. I still don’t buy that myself; but with the iPhone and now a rumoured Google Phone on the horizon, as well as Blackberries, it’s certainly true that mobile access is becoming more important to a small minority of users.
The slow advent of more affordable data plans will help accellerate that; on the corporate tarrif, this BlackBerry, for example, costs a flat $80 a month to run, plus a flat $10 per day when roaming overseas, to my company’s IP address. In effect, therefore, this means I have free web and personal email access providing I stick to the inbuilt web browser. No fancy Google Mail app for me therefore; but the mobile HTML version is just fine.
How mobile-compatible is your website? Have you checked it recently? Ask a BlackBerry-toting colleague or supplier to show you your website. If designed correctly (to accessible standards) it should work perfectly. But does yours?
