In this series of posts about “mobile web application development strategies’, we will discuss about ‘advantages of mobile web platform, strategizing for mobile web, initiating a mobile web project’ and much more will be added as and when possible.

To begin with, we will understand how mobile web is promising.

Advantages of Mobile Web platform:

Anywhere-Anytime information access:
Unlike conventional desktop-based computing, mobile web has surpassed the limitation of immobility. With mobile devices, users can access information anywhere, anytime when they are in the cell phone connectivity coverage area or using a WI-FI hotspot.

Wireless Internet Connectivity:
Users are now having access to internet on their mobile devices or accesses internet through their mobile devices.

Leveraging Application / Device capabilities:
Services / Applications now can take the advantage of in-built capabilities of mobile devices, like clicking on a phone number can help users to call the respective number with no hassles involved.

Geography-based Content Delivery:
Location-based technologies are enabling the end-users to receive the content based on the location. Such localized content delivery mechanism is helping users to get the desired content with minimal efforts, which leads to a better user experience and benefits to the respective service provider as well.

Strategizing for mobile web:

When an organization decides to design a website or an application targeted at mobile web users, they need to consider several factors like:

• Why should we make / create a mobile web application?
• Does the content delivered on mobile devices make sense for the TG? Is it really adding value to their usage?
• What kind of content can be made available online? Do we deliver useful content?
• We have a very powerful flash-based website. Should we create a similar application User Interface (UI) for mobile devices as well? Will it work across multiple device profiles?

Precisely, before we start working on a mobile web application, we must be aware of all aspects like advantages and limitations the mobile web platform has and also about how to leverage this platform for an organizations’ and end-users’ advantage. We must be clear about ‘whether creating a mobile web application can really add value’ to the respective website as well for the end-users / TG.

As this is a series of posts, we will continue with “Initiating a mobile web project” in the continuing post.

Below given are some of these websites which I liked. I would recommend you to check them out to understand how we can deliver the best-of-the-class rich user experience even on mobile devices. They still may not be perfect & we need to learn from it. I would like to hear from you if you have not liked something specific to any one of these and why.

Google
Google’s web services
http://m.google.com

http://m.google.com

Yahoo!
Mobile edition for search, news, mail and more
http://m.yahoo.com/

http://m.yahoo.com

eBay
http://iphone.ebay.com (designed to suit best for Apple iPhone)

http://iphone.ebay.com

Amazon.com
World’s leading online retailer’s mobile website
http://www.amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com

ESPN
News, updates and scores from ESPN & is optimized for iPhone.
http://m.espn.com

http://m.espn.com

BBC NEWS
Largest broadcasting corporation in the world
http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mobile

New York Public Library
http://m.nypl.org

http://m.nypl.org

If you have seen some mobile edition websites and good enough as a reference, please submit those URLs.