Microsoft decided that due to their new interoperability initiative, they would reverse a previous decision to make IE8 default to the IE7 engine, instead of supporting standards-compliance by default. No article or musing I have yet read has delved into what is increasingly likely, the reason for this sudden change in decision -- and that is this: the mobile web is coming.
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Member since:2005-11-10
Opera Mini/Mobile is a brilliant browser - but when I want to look something up out and about, I just wait until I get home. Keypad driven browser interfaces don't have the same quite 'instant' gratification that means that you can whip your phone out and discuss what films are on. Could you imagine trying to do that with Opera Mini, you'd be standing there for 10 minutes tapping away whilst your friends get bored.
Stylus driven is acceptable, but then you look like a tool. Multi-touch is the best at dealing with 'real life' IMO.
Member since:2006-08-22
Member since:2005-07-30
I have no problem using a keyboard for mobile browsing, the lack of QWERTY input is a pain, but that's about it. I also don't see why Safari Mobile on the iPhone is miles ahead in the mobile browsing experience than it's competitors. While the iPhone is popular, this doesn't necessarily mean that Apple has the best mobile browsing implementation.
Member since:2005-06-29
I'll second that. One of the reasons I will be replacing my Treo with a S60 phone next week is the pathetic browsing experience on Palm's Blazer. Granted, it's better than the average non-smartphone, but not by much. The S60 phones by Nokia have a browser based on the same rendering engine as Safari. It's not quite as spiffy as the iPhone; screen size and non-touchscreen capability limit it somewhat, but from what I've seen it is leaps and bounds ahead of Palm. I'm looking forward to being able to access my bank account again, as well as benefitting from all the iPhone-friendly web applications springing up.
The Symbian OS has really come along nicely in the past few years, something I've ignored until recently, when I really started hitting brick walls with my aging Palm. It will be a refreshing change and a step towards the future of standards-based mobile browsing.
Member since:
2005-07-30
I would dispute the statement about Apple having the only decent mobile web browser for non-geeks. This is obviously not true, anyone who can use Safari mobile can use the S60 web browser or even Opera mini.
The thing that Apple shines at is providing a consistent, end to end user experience and portraying their products as cool. Anyone who felt like using Facebook (or any website) on the mobile web could have done so a while before the iPhone was released. Apple's marketing and their focus on a consistent "out of the box" experience is what pushes people to make the switch.
Regarding the theory on why MS decided to default to the standards compliant mode, I think it's a combination of several different factors. I am sure the mobile web had something to do with it, but for some reason I don't feel that it's the main reason.