Reconstructed thread (some how the first version vanished):
Rafe:
In All About Symbian Insight #36 (AAS Podcast #89) Rafe, and Steve chat about the web as a platform for services and follow on with a discussion on whether Nokia should make its services available on competing hardware. There's also a debate on the relative merits of the N78 and N82 for those looking to make a purchase decision.
Read on in the full article.
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Davidmaxwaterma:
I can't agree that Google Maps' mobile web site is any good. On my E90, it's just aweful, since it shows this piddly little map in the middle of the screen that isn't any use at all. Furthermore, there's no way to switch to the 'classic' - there's a link, but it take one back to the regular Google search page and going back to the maps page results in the same.
I find this often...they present my phone with a mobile version, but there's no option to select the regular version. They seem to think that the iPhone is the only phone that can display their regular web pages. It's annoying.
I've done some web pages that are specific to particular phone models and it really isn't that difficult.
I wish there was some general way you could specify your preferred format; something in the user-agent perhaps, that specifies the resolution and dimensions, and whether you prefer rich or simple web pages. Perhaps there already is something like this, or a good reason why not.
bmantekul:
I was suprised not to hear a point about the hardware side of services - keeping people buying nokias by not allowing software (such as Maps, Nokia chat etc) to other phones, even S60 ones.
If someone was using a handset with Maps on, would it affect their next purchase?
So say they liked the samsung INNOV8 over the N96, would their familiarity with Nokia maps make them get the N96 instead?
So what it might ultimatly come down to is whats going to bring in the most money? Handsets or services?
I think for quite a while it might be handsets, but in the future it could well be services, so perhaps it would be a good idea for nokia to start considering this now.
davidmaxwaterma:
BTW, I don't think any apology need be made for not having 'many' members of the AAS team on the podcast. I know there's a big overlap in market areas that are covered, but it is entirely acceptable that if there's no news in a particular market segment that the relevant person is absent from the podcast. More people doesn't make for a better podcast necessarily...
Was there any interesting news in the games world this week?
Rafe:
Agreed some service don't work very well as mobile sites at the moment. Mapping is a very good example (especially if you consider GPS as well)... and yes I find the forced switch the mobile / PC versions can be very annoying. My personal preference is to be given a choice, but I suppose they don't want to confuse people.
There's all sorts of extra information which could be delivered in headers (location for example). However I think it is acceptable to ask the first time and store via cookies the preference.
In general though I still expect more services to switch to be web only. However I would stress there's no hard and fast rule, just a general trend. At the moment anything that interacts with data on the device is generally better as a client app. Whether that will change with improvements in browser tech is open to debate (see WRT version 2).