[Hands0n]

Not sure if this is genuine from Sky but the weblinks certainly are :D Nicely done too, might work on other platforms...


I bet you're very chuffed with your new iPhone, and while you check out all it can do, you might want to save www.sky.com/news/iphone to your bookmarks.

We've been working hard at Sky News to give you an iPhone-friendly version of our website - enjoy!

It also plays our podcasts pretty nattily too. Check out Technofile, for example: http://news.sky.com/skynews/podcasts

All the best

Jules (Exec Prod of www.sky.com/news)

[Ben]

Isn't the whole point of the iPhone that you browse the whole, real Internet?

Perhaps Sky's regular site is just so poorly designed that it barely works on the iPhone? :D

[miffed]

Interesting point Ben , I must admit it did cross my mind when I went to log onto "Facebook" the other day , and was redirected to a dedicated iPhone version of the site
Great in some ways , but as you suggest , the iPhones party trick is to deal with "proper" websites in the way they were intended to be seen -
of course , the problem with the iPhone is the slow data connection when not using wi-fi , so a the option of a condensed version is quite welcome when in 2.5G data areas I suppose
Interesting though , that a platform that is resident on one device (OK , so two if you include the touch I suppose ) has people knocking up dedicated versions of their sites for the platform within months of it's availablilty - How long have S60 & Windows mobile been around ? and how many sites have specific WM or S60 versions of their sites ?
I think this really says something !

[Ben]

Indeed - in the US, OS X (mobile) is now second only to RIM (http://www.trustedreviews.com/apple/news/2007/12/17/iPhone-Grabs-27-of-US-Smartphone-Market/p1) in terms of market share.

[miffed]

Blimey !
Although I think this simply illustrates how the incumbent manufacturers have failed to make their products appeal to the general consumer - I think Apple have done the others a huge favour by converting mobile phone customers into smartphone customers !
One of the UK iphone ad's I saw the other day highlights the things you can do on an iPhone , and then points out that it will make you wonder how you ever lived without it ! , which , on the face of it sounds like a ridiculous thing to say , after all , we (us lot!) have been doing everything the iPhone offers for ages ! - But , I do suspect that a lot of iPhone customers WILL be doing these things for the first time - and they'll be the kind of people that previously never contemplated using their phone for anything other that voice and text
I remember Ben described the iPhone as an "enabler" - and this is very true - I am walking around with my entire contacts list / address book on my phone , photo library on my phone , my email account on my phone , and a large collection of music & my home videos all on my phone -
"But what's the big deal with that ? " - I hear you ask .... "My Nokia XXXX does all that ..... "

Well , the difference is , I did not put any of that stuff on my phone ! - I simply charged the bloody thing up !

Remarkable when you think about it ! - nothing "revolutionary" - just the same old stuff - but done in an impressive way !

[Hands0n]

Isn't the whole point of the iPhone that you browse the whole, real Internet?

Well yes, of course it is. But it is also quite telling that Sky, for one of many yet to come, have designed a version of their website to match the iPhone's UI aesthetics. While the iPhone has been largely dissed in the UK [if not Europe as a whole] there appears to be some considerable bearishness by the businesses! I must admit that I was sceptical, but I do think that we need to see Christmas through to see what the market penetration of the iPhone is going to be.



I remember Ben described the iPhone as an "enabler" - and this is very true - I am walking around with my entire contacts list / address book on my phone , photo library on my phone , my email account on my phone , and a large collection of music & my home videos all on my phone -
"But what's the big deal with that ? " - I hear you ask .... "My Nokia XXXX does all that ..... "

Well , the difference is , I did not put any of that stuff on my phone ! - I simply charged the bloody thing up !

Remarkable when you think about it ! - nothing "revolutionary" - just the same old stuff - but done in an impressive way !

Preeeeecisely! :D And this is something that no other manufacturer has yet grasped and that Apple have understood for a very long time now.

The User Experience is King. Period. All of the bells and whistles will not sell the product unless the experience is a good one. Miffed sums that up beautifully when he says "Well , the difference is , I did not put any of that stuff on my phone ! - I simply charged the bloody thing up ! ". There, in that one single sentence, you have the whole reason why the iPhone, like the iPod, will be a success.

The article that Ben linked to follows this up succinctly

So what can we take from all of this? Ultimately, that design breeds desirability and that features alone will not sell a device. Like Apple's iPod line-up which still lacks an FM tuner, expandable storage, a removable battery, AVI playback and iTunes independent operation, the iPhone misses 3G, a camera flash and (if locked) MMS, video recording, games, free customisable ringtones and network freedom to name but a few

Much to the utter dismay of the other manufacturers Apple scores again and again where one would not expect it to.

I was just a few minutes ago having a conversation with a friend of mine regarding iTunes vs Media Player and Nokia's own Music app for the Symbian series. He complains that Media Player looks, feels and operates differently each time there is a new release - so he does not bother anymore. Then, turning to Nokia he says that the Music app is frustrating in that it will not organise the music on the N95 8GB. That he has to do that himself on the N95 8GB - and then ends up with a proliferation of copies of the music and album links. Yet with iTunes - organise the music on iTunes and it appears on the iPod the next time you [to use Miffed's expression] charge the iPod up.

Marvelous! What an easy experience :cool:

The best thing that all of the other manufacturers could do is to copy Apple. Then, and only then, would they stand a chance against this new monster :D

[gorilla]

Then, turning to Nokia he says that the Music app is frustrating in that it will not organise the music on the N95 8GB.

I've no experience of this app myself. i just copy the music onto my memory card, fire up the music app on the phone and it organises away for me. I don't have to do anything else.

I can concur with the itunes argument though, it is very easy to use and syncs very well.