What is it…?
mobile.domain.com?
m.domain.com?
domain.com/mobile?
domain.mobi?
Most of websites that offer optimized experience on mobile devices today use one of the above. It is good that you have access to optimized version of the site, but is it really easy to get to? Some websites are smart enough to redirect users to the mobile site automatically, but most of them don’t do that and even for those who do, it usually only works for the site’s homepage.
For Users
Do you know the mobile version URL of you favorite website?
Do you even know if they have one?
Did you have to try all possible URLs above to find it?
Your friend sent you a link while sitting in front of his/her desktop computer. You open it up on your smartphone. Do you get mobile-optimized experience without having to do anything? Would you like to have that experience?
For Developers
Should you build a whole new site, simple version of your already existing site, just for optimized experience on mobile devices?
Let’s say you already have a separate mobile site. Do you use separate “business logic” for the mobile site? Is it easy to maintain both?
For Publishers/Site Owners (SEO)
Is it good to have two separate URLs for the same content?
Should you use same or separate tracking code on mobile site and main site?
Do you notice that mobile users are coming to both mobile and main site? What do you do to run reports in that case? Isn’t it a headache for you?
What I’d like to see
I don’t want separate URL for mobile devices. Websites should be smart enough to detect browser capabilities and show only the things I’m capable of viewing. Am I asking too much?
Today, no one site is perfect in this regard. It is probably because none of them were built from ground up with mobile device users in mind. (Probably there are sites built from ground up with mobile device users in mind. I just don’t know one. I’d love to see them in the comments.”) With strong growth in number of smartphone owners, having seamless experience across all browsers (mobile and full) may become a necessity pretty soon.
I think all I’ve said above makes most sense for news-oriented sites like nytimes.com, cnn.com, digg.com, engadget.com, lifehacker.com and etc. (Name your favorites in the comments. I’d like to know more.) But even for sites like Flickr, I think this still applies. We already have powerful native apps for full-blown social sites like Facebook, MySpace and etc, so we’re ok there I guess.
What are your thoughts?
