Mobile web: back to the future
JavaScript server-side rendering with device detection
Adding Location to a non-GPS Phone – Part II
October 20, 2008, by tomsoft
In the first part of this article, we introduced the concept of CellID, and OpenCellID – an open source database of CellIDs that can be used to build location based services, and we created a small program to determine location from CellID information. This time, we will go a step further and display a map on a mobile device, using the open source "OpenStreetMap", and we position the map using the device's location. This will deliver an experience similar to that offered by the Google Maps for Mobile "MyLocation" feature, and will run on top of JavaME... Read More
Will mobile marketing come out of the credit crunch smelling of roses?
October 17, 2008, by mobiThinking
Recession is looming, but the mobile business plans to encourage brands to boost mobile marketing spend. Brands should be spending 5 percent of their marketing budget on mobile, according to AKQA head of mobile Dan Rosen. He said he’s working on initiatives within the Mobile Marketing Association aimed at promoting brand spending on the mobile channel... Read More
Mobile car insurance taken for a test drive
October 16, 2008, by mobiThinking
“An advert on the back of a London bus invites drivers to apply for some car insurance over my mobile. Visit Swiftcover.mobi or text ‘Swift’ to 80231 (which replies quickly with the URL) for a quote in 60 seconds or less. So we tried it… not while driving as that would be illegal, if not a little daft. On the homepage Swift’s hen invites us to get a quote, offering a money-back guarantee if cheaper insurance is found elsewhere within 14 days of the start of the policy... Read More
Where should mobile sit in your business?
October 15, 2008, by mobiThinking
MobiThinking was a trifle surprised to read on the site of UK-based Marketing Week yesterday, 14 October 2008, that News International had shut its mobile division. High profile… for mobile web… mobile strategy boss, Andrew Bagguley has left and there was talk of redundancies for his staff (the latter airbrushed from later versions of the story)... Read More
mobiForge – A Brief History
October 14, 2008, by Ruadhán O'Donoghue
As mentioned in our first official mobiForge newsletter, as a tribute to dev.mobi, the site that mobiForge once was, we thought it would be fun to put together a time-line of notable moments in its two year life. We feel that dev.mobi, has done a great job of serving the mobile development community, and has very much helped to make the mobile Internet dream a reality. We're very proud of what we've achieved so far. So here's the longer version of the shorter version in the newsletter:... Read More
The Google Phone Cometh (so what)?
October 13, 2008, by Ronan_Mandel
Last week saw the announcement of the first Android based device, the HTC Dream better known now as the T-Mobile G1. Despite the fact that this phone is based on on Open Source platform, the details as they have been released, make it feel very much like any other smartphone that Joe Consumer can go purchase from his operator. It's locked to T-Mobile USA at launch and will find its way into the UK in November before it conquers the world in 2009. Now the real question: So what?... Read More
Branded Utility: a better buzzword
October 7, 2008, by mobiThinking
A timely piece of jargon caught our eye in a rather old PSFK blog interview with Benjamin Palmer of Barbarian Group: it’s called Branded Utility and we think it’s a pretty good description of how marketers should be thinking of using the mobile web. Branded Utility is just what it sounds like: brands doing something useful for people as a way of earning the right to be a part of their lives... Read More
UK Mobile networks appoint IAB as trade body for mobile advertising
October 7, 2008, by mobiThinking
The five UK mobile networks – 3, O2, Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone UK have appointed the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) as the official trade body for mobile advertising. They have formed a Mobile Steering Group to oversee and advise on strategy to educate advertisers and agencies... Read More
DeviceAtlas 2.0
October 3, 2008, by atrasatti
We're thrilled to launch the new version of our award-winning DeviceAtlas platform. Version 2.0 is a huge step forward for us, and we hope it's going to change the way you think about mobile device information. Since we launched DeviceAtlas at the start of the year, we've been working hard to source mobile device information from all over the world. Take a look at the footer of the site and you'll see the logos of handset manufacturers, mobile operators and leading vendors who've all helped us enormously to do this... Read More
A Very Modern Mobile Switching Algorithm – Part I
October 3, 2008, by James Pearce
An important question that most web developers ask when developing their first mobile web site is "how do I distinguish between mobile users and desktop users?". Although this seems like a simple enough question at first, of course there's more to it than meets the eye. In fact, what do we even mean by 'distinguish'? How we distinguish their requirements? Their desires? The services they expect? The browsers they happen to be using?... Read More
