Mobile Web-apps
Lately, several of our articles have focussed on bridging the gap between mobile devices and online applications (weren’t these called websites before?). We aren’t the only ones talking about this hot topic. While the ink was still drying on my article about DodgeballÂ? and how that property would help Google release a mobile version of YouTube more quickly, Techcrunch had a post about a YouTube and Verizon partnership.Â? Originally, a post on Techcrunch (that I can’t find - have you evered searched for a post on that site?!) suggested it would be December ‘07 when a mobile YouTube would be released.
Since the Peanut Butter Manifesto, I made a comment about Yahoo! looking to move more into the development of mobile apps, and similar to Dodgeball, Yahoo! has released their own group texting site, Mixd. A comment by Natali Del Conte is a little strange: It is a little surprising that Yahoo! wants in on this game but then again, why not? Everything is going to move in this direction, and it’s important to have a smaller test site before attempting this with something under the actual Yahoo! brand. I may not bleed purple and orange, but I think Yahoo! is positioned well to move forward in these new directions, and I don’t really think the peanut butter is spread too thin.
Finally, Paul Kedrosky compares the reach across mobile and PC for popular sites. Weather and sports top the list, and Gmail is a suprisingly strong mobile app, a testament to the types of people using the not-as-popular emailing service. What might be the biggest suprise is MapQuest making the list. Again, this is an example of the average user and their familiarity with the product - it isn’t broke, and they aren’t fixing it.
Update: Here is an article on GigaOm about a Yahoo!/Nokia deal. The article links to a previous post on GigaOm that talks about Mobile Messaging startups.