Data roaming in Europe - #frustration

Data roaming in the EU… a never ending story if you ask me.  Mobile internet usage keeps on rising, apps are commonly used and accessible to everybody.  We all want to use the internet anywhere, anytime!

To me, as an IT kind of guy, it’s rather simple to predict which service on my phone or iPad will use a certain amount of data, but I can imagine that for someone not into the technicalities, this is not equally easy.

(data services tariff overview, EC)

So, we found the solution! We will send an sms when usage exceeds a certain threshold (as in: money)… Excuse my choice of words but that’s just plain bullsh*t!

Get those mobile operators around a table and figure out an innovative way of dealing with roaming! Really, this cannot be that hard?  I’m sure that people will find a workaround soon.  Operators will lose a major part of their turnover if they don’t act now… .

Exploring the web “mobile” can be a pain!

It keeps surprising me.  The number of websites that deliver content in a non-mobile-friendly way is still enormous.  Let’s face it, there are a number of ways to easily adapt a site for mobile viewing.  Maybe one of the most pragmatic ways is to (for now,) abandon Flash-only as a development platform.

Don’t misunderstand me, I do admire Flash and worked with it for a long time, but it just doesn’t work in the mobile world.

It’s my experience that, for information and interaction purposes, people are no longer charmed by a flash-based website.  They have a smartphone, tablet or any other device on which they want access to the information and the possibility to interact.  Imagine this: during your latest family gathering, you decide to organize a summer weekend in some cottage.  You take your iPad and start searching… Very soon, you’ll run in to lot’s of sites completely build in Flash.  No go on the iPad.  So you take your Galaxy S phone (screen is a lot smaller), browse to the same site and see it load… and load and react extremely unstable to every touch you give it.  The only result you’ll get is shame and anger.  This expensive piece of equipment doesn’t work!  Or does it… .

This is a message to the web builders among us.  Please consider explaining to your customer why having a non-flash based alternative for his/her site can really deliver!  It’s not hard to build, it may be hard to sell, but it will surely be hard to explain a decreasing number of visitors due to lousy accessibility!

Update 1: a small extract from the Google Sites Blog:

A poor mobile web experience can negatively shape a consumer’s opinion of your brand or your company altogether.  In a recent study, we found that 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble accessing from their phone, and 40% go to a competitor’s.  By the end of this year, more than half of all Americans will own a smartphone. Your customers are mobile, are you?

Rest of the post to be found here.

Update 2: forgot to mention… please all get rid of the floating ads!  They are annoying and I am pretty sure they have practically no return.  On top of that, they usually give an unprofessional impression.

That’s that.  Enough complaining for today.  I promise my next posts will contain more positive ideas!

Locationbased services and payment for international data

Some things in tech and life are really difficult to understand.  I’ve had some thoughts lately on the price of mobile data when roaming in Europe.  With all the available technology, people always know who we are and where we are.  Imagine going abroad and receiving a notification from a local carrier that you have entered his/her network.  This carrier could give you the possibility of purchasing a limited data plan during your stay and thus preventing the need of expensive roaming data contracts with your home provider.I do see some issues concerning invoicing etc, but do admit, those are no more than issues… .  The advantages for user as well as provider would be numerous.