.mobi The Sun (UK news) goes mobile

[cac14850]

Article below. I like the downloading sales pitch they have with this.

The Sun launches website for mobiles
http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/story/0,,2196788,00.html?gusrc=rss&feed=4

Stephen Brook, press correspondent
Monday October 22, 2007
MediaGuardian.co.uk


The Sun has boosted its mobile phone offering to readers today, becoming the first national newspaper to launch a ".mobi" domain name with content tailored to mobile users.
The new site - www.thesun.mobi - contains a simplified version of the Sun's webpage, allowing readers to access it over mobile phones or portable devices.

Many Sun readers are not office-bound and so less able to access Sun Online, the paper's website, from desktop computers.

The website allows readers to access the top 10 stories in news, sport, showbiz and Sun woman, as well as Mystic Meg horoscopes and Page 3 girls.

They can also download Page 3 girls and videos, ringtones and virals. Downloading videos and wallpaper costs between 25p and £3. Page 3 wallpapers cost £1 and Page 3 videos between £2 and £3.

Text alert services include news, sports, showbiz, football, Mystic Meg, lottery results and racing tips, with each alert priced at 25p. A text from dating service The Love Match costs 50p and racing tips cost £1 per text.

"There are more than eight million consumers of mobile news and information services in the UK in any given month, and the Sun is keen to get a head start in extending its brand into the mobile space and reaching new audiences," said Andrew Bagguley, head of mobile strategy at the Sun's owner, News Group Newspapers.

"Thesun.mobi gives readers access to the paper wherever they happen to be - on a bus, at the beach, at a football game - the Sun is always there, in their pockets, on their mobile," said David Ryder, the chief marketing officer of dotMobi, the company that controls the rights to the .mobi domain name.

 

[cac14850]

Everyone seems to has missed the fact the site is not mobile compliant, does even get a 3 on the ready checker, and worse, will not display at all on most mobile phones. Good PR - doubt it, the average punter will type this into his phone, find nothing happens, and then never bother again, after all if THE SUN can't get it work on a mobile phone, then who will be able to. If the public don't trust a .mobi to work on a mobile phone, the point of .mobi gets lost. Pity MTLD can't see or understand this.

Actually it does get a 3 which is not great but not awful. It is fair which means it will work on most if not all mobile phones but possibly display poorly on some of the older ones. On the one hand you have a point, on the other your description is misleading at best.

 

[VizNet]

Have you tried the emulators ? it doesn't display at all on most of the emulators as it does not return valid mime content, hence whether it gets a 1 or a 5 in the checker, it plain doesn't display on a mobile phone !!!

 

[PVFARKAS]

It displays on my crackberry nicely. Saying it won't work on all phones is incorrect.anyone calling out a sites noncompliance is helpful, but blanket statements that it works on nothing or the mtld doesn't care are'nt. Maybe take another crack at your alert? Do you mean to say that a mobi 3 will not look good on lower model phones? Is a mobi 3 or 4 a tradeoff a dev has to make to get better pics and content?

 

[Pred]

wont open for me on a pc

just asking what i wanna open it with. never had it before with anything. then opens as a text file. freaky thing.
either way, dont think they have set site up right.

 

[VizNet]

Obvoulsy I have go this wrong then, the fact it doesn't display on the Nokia, Samsung, Sony or motorola emaulators is not important as they are not typical mobile phones. Please ignore any observations about this site not getting 3 on the checker (actual score is less than 3, but rounded up), and failing the most important tests also. Must have totally misunderstood why we have a .mobi domain.

 

[allnicksgone]

Obvoulsy I have go this wrong then, the fact it doesn't display on the Nokia, Samsung, Sony or motorola emaulators is not important as they are not typical mobile phones. Please ignore any observations about this site not getting 3 on the checker (actual score is less than 3, but rounded up), and failing the most important tests also. Must have totally misunderstood why we have a .mobi domain.

Maybe emulators don't work exactly the same as a phone. Have you tried it on an actual phone?

I can't speak for all brands, but it works fine on my Samsung.

 

[newton]

Works fine on my Blackberry too