.mobi Microsoft Corp. & Mobile

[pcaero]

SEATTLE, June 17 (Reuters) -

Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile , Research) launched a redesigned MSN portal optimized for mobile phones on Sunday, stepping up its offering at a time when more powerful devices increase the demand for richer content on handsets.

U.S. mobile Internet use still represents only a fraction of computer-based Web usage, but technology heavyweights like Microsoft see increasingly powerful mobile phones and faster networks opening the door for new services and content.

"We firmly believe there is an inflection point here," said Phil Holden, Microsoft's director of mobile Web services. "There's a new battle, a new frontline developing on the mobile phone."

Reuters Pictures

Editors Choice: Best pictures
from the last 24 hours.
View Slideshow

Microsoft's new MSN Mobile portal -- http://mobile.msn.com -- offers news, sports information, entertainment features and access to services like e-mail, search, maps and instant messaging all on one page.

When a user accesses the portal, the MSN platform detects the handset and optimizes the site for that device, adjusting things like font sizes for different screens.

The number of U.S. mobile Internet users is expected to more than triple to 110 million in 2011 from the current 32 million, according to Sterling Market Intelligence and Opus Research.

Microsoft faces a lot of competition in the space. Continued...

http://yahoo.reuters.com/news/artic...6-18_04-01-24_N15336808&type=comktNews&rpc=44

 

[garrett200]

Microsoft's new MSN Mobile portal -- http://mobile.msn.com --

Don't like that part

MSN.mobi shows the exact same page. I don't understand why they're not promoting that instead, it's so much shorter and easier to remember.

 

[pcaero]

"The ultimate prize for all the players is to gain a foothold in the market for mobile advertising. ABI Research has forecast global mobile marketing and advertising to increase sixfold to $19 billion by 2011 from an estimated $3 billion by the end of 2007.

Microsoft said it will not place advertising on the portal right away, but said it expects to have either banner, text or click-to-call ads in place this year."

i like this part..

 

[scandiman]

MSN.mobi shows the exact same page. I don't understand why they're not promoting that instead, it's so much shorter and easier to remember.

I noticed the same thing. They're good to go when .mobi is a more common extension.

"The ultimate prize for all the players is to gain a foothold in the market for mobile advertising. ABI Research has forecast global mobile marketing and advertising to increase sixfold to $19 billion by 2011 from an estimated $3 billion by the end of 2007.

Microsoft said it will not place advertising on the portal right away, but said it expects to have either banner, text or click-to-call ads in place this year."

i like this part..

Yes the projections for mobile marketing dollars are huge.

 

[DutchCook]

Daisuke Wakabayashi (author of the article) digged not deep enough I think.

first:

quote:
"the launch of the new MSN Mobile portal comes a few weeks before Apple Inc. releases its (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) highly anticipated iPhone, which features a Safari browser that allows users to view full Web pages by zooming in and out."

a little later:

"The majority of users are not surfing the mobile Internet yet, but there is pent-up demand for content on mobile phones," said Sterling, noting that small screens and slow networks contributed to a poor experience for most users.

He does not explain to the non-technical readers why there are mobile standards (and .mobi who obliges to use these and why the mobile web does not need features like full web pages with zoom function, at this time, certainly without a fast mobile connection)

Apple iPhone: EDGE (2G):
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots or 59KByte/s,
when I read theoretical max ...
fast search: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/exclusiv...oosted-by-atts-operation-fine-edge-265867.php
Their new minimum of 80kbps or a marginal 10kBps.
Let's look at the average size of a normal full size page (let's take two of my favorites: tweakers.net (140 KB (463 KB uncompressed), namepros (30 KB (65 KB uncompressed))

tweakers.net @ iPhone: 140/10 = 14 seconds
namepros @ iPhone: 3 seconds

But, at home @ 6Mbps, namepros loads very slow (for this connection), let's say 3 seconds for everything, I know enough about a mobile connection (for full pages) ..

It's true that full web pages can detect mobile devices and give them the mobile version, but nobody knows what they are going to get (imagine how many web pages, how many lazy developers ...) How many full web pages are even standard compliant? and we must rely on the believe that every web developer is going to make his sites mobile ready? .mobi is the solution to this,
.mobi == mobile compliant, for every mobile device.
Just my thoughts :hehe:

 

[namewaiter]

Daisuke Wakabayashi (author of the article) digged not deep enough I think.

first:

quote:
"the launch of the new MSN Mobile portal comes a few weeks before Apple Inc. releases its (AAPL.O: Quote, Profile , Research) highly anticipated iPhone, which features a Safari browser that allows users to view full Web pages by zooming in and out."

a little later:

"The majority of users are not surfing the mobile Internet yet, but there is pent-up demand for content on mobile phones," said Sterling, noting that small screens and slow networks contributed to a poor experience for most users.

He does not explain to the non-technical readers why there are mobile standards (and .mobi who obliges to use these and why the mobile web does not need features like full web pages with zoom function, at this time, certainly without a fast mobile connection)

Apple iPhone: EDGE (2G):
http://www.apple.com/iphone/technology/specs.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enhanced_Data_Rates_for_GSM_Evolution

theoretical maximum is 473.6 kbit/s for 8 timeslots or 59KByte/s,
when I read theoretical max ...
fast search: http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/exclusiv...oosted-by-atts-operation-fine-edge-265867.php
Their new minimum of 80kbps or a marginal 10kBps.
Let's look at the average size of a normal full size page (let's take two of my favorites: tweakers.net (140 KB (463 KB uncompressed), namepros (30 KB (65 KB uncompressed))

tweakers.net @ iPhone: 140/10 = 14 seconds
namepros @ iPhone: 3 seconds

But, at home @ 6Mbps, namepros loads very slow (for this connection), let's say 3 seconds for everything, I know enough about a mobile connection (for full pages) ..

It's true that full web pages can detect mobile devices and give them the mobile version, but nobody knows what they are going to get (imagine how many web pages, how many lazy developers ...) How many full web pages are even standard compliant? and we must rely on the believe that every web developer is going to make his sites mobile ready? .mobi is the solution to this,
.mobi == mobile compliant, for every mobile device.
Just my thoughts :hehe:

umm .. yea, very well said!

 

[Jeff]

Microsoft's new MSN Mobile portal -- http://mobile.msn.com --

Don't like that part

MSN.mobi shows the exact same page. I don't understand why they're not promoting that instead, it's so much shorter and easier to remember.

Agree ... perhaps they're working on that promotional aspect? :blink: :music:

Please keep us posted, Garrett ... :gl:
Thanks.
-Jeff

 

[garrett200]

Agree ... perhaps they're working on that promotional aspect? :blink: :music:

Please keep us posted, Garrett ... :gl:
Thanks.
-Jeff

You betcha....well MSN is promoting something MSN.mobi related, I forgot what it is though, it was the topic of another thread if anyone remembers. Some sub category of msn....

 

[Jeff]

Thanks, Garrett.

 

[garrett200]

Thanks, Garrett.

Oh, here's the thread Jeff:

http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/338232-ninemsn-goes-live-nine-mobi.html

And, here's the link to them promoting "nine.mobi":

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=272471

Read #3: Enter nine.mobi: If you're a whiz at the mobile internet just type nine.mobi directly into your mobile’s internet browser.

 

[Jeff]

Thanks, Garrett.

Oh, here's the thread Jeff:

http://www.namepros.com/dot-mobi/338232-ninemsn-goes-live-nine-mobi.html

I hear ya', thanks again! :yell:
-Jeff

From the referenced thread:

Why don't they just start promoting msn.mobi?

 

[garrett200]

I presume msn.mobi promotion is not far behind, hopefully.