Google launches iPhone-optimized front page
By Ryan Block 
posted Dec 5th 2007 3:03AM
posted Dec 5th 2007 3:03AM
[Via TechCrunch]
posted Dec 5th 2007 3:03AM
Number of applications downloaded from the iPhone App Store
After hitting a historic 1 billion downloads, Apple says the store cleared another half a billion apps in the following three months.
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Looks just as purdy on my LG Viewty....perhaps rather than being iPhone optimised, its actually Smartphone/large screen phone optimised?
Nah, that couldn't be. There is only one phone.
They have always had a mobile version of the front page, though I'd say that this version has more of a visual style of the iPhone.
Oh, and after checking it out, it looks like the exact page on the screenshot only shows up on an iPhone, so it IS an iPhone-optimized page. For the rest of it Google Mobile looks like it always has.
If you are getting the left aligned Mobile version, scroll down and choose "View Google in classic"
It looks pretty much identical to this "iPhone special style"
That's right, just like the Highlander was often heard to say, "there can be only ONE (iPhone)." The other smartphones don't matter.
Pretty soon everything will be optimized for the iPhone, so what the big deal. It's like....inevitable. It's like the Borg always say, "We will assimilate you."
If you try really hard, I bet you could cram one more geeky sci-fi allusion into your comment.
and possibly more fanboy.
you guys are forgetting that android has a web kit based browser just like safari on the iPhone. Which means any "iPhone optimized" stuff google cranks out is actually going to work great on their platform.
I thought one of the main strengths of the iPhone was the full HTML browser so you could view the Internet like a regular computer...
Why are so many sites optimizing for a device that supposedly doesn't need it?
Accurately rendering like a Desktop browser != optimized for small devices.
The iPhone Safari browser will accurately render a web page like Engadget, nytimes.com, etc as it is intended for a desktop, but the fact is, you're still viewing on a smaller screen, and at full size, either everything will be very small to read and interact with, or require a lot of scrolling.
iPhone optimized sites mitigate one or more of those issues.
Real internet my ass. Clients are always bugging me because most of my site is not compatible with the iphone. well I'm sorry, but to me flash is an important part of the internet. 9 out of 10 photographers I know have websites that are entirely flash based. There's no reason for this since flash lite has been out for quite some time now.
flash is a pox on accessibility. it should be used as an element, not the entire site. anyone not using a desktop browser will tell you that, regardless of its brand name.
and dont tell me you have to use flash. you want to use flash. period.
The Drudge Report has done the same thing. Launched today. idrudgereport.com
I'm sorry, The Drudge Report looks like sh*t!
There's no iPhone AJAX stuff whatsoever.
I think it's obvious why the move was made. For anyone who uses the Jesus Phone on EDGE, the "real" Internet takes forever to load. I'm glad the move is being made to accommodate us until the 3G comes out next year.
I agree EDGE sucks. EDGE, no good biz apps and no copy/paste are whats keeping the iPhone from taking a real chunk out of the smartphone market (business users are where the real money is at for cell providers).
Its likely the 3G iPhone will keep EDGE for data as EDGE is technically a 3G technology (more like 2.75G). Apple needs to use HSDPA for data on the new 3G iPhone to make people happy but they won't do this until the 3rd or 4th Gen iPhone. That's Apple's way.
I'm no expert but a knowledgeable friend explained it to me like this; EDGE is slow, like a wireless dial-up connection. EV-DO (verizon/sprint) is fast and consistent - having consistency in the connection keeps the speed down a little from its full potential. HSDPA is the fastest but not as consistent as EV-DO.
Consumers will put up with the lack of consistent fast speeds if they get really fast speeds when it does work. So HSDPA will win the consumer market. EV-DO will keep many business users as they will opt for consistency in the connection over the slight gain in speed. EDGE will be forgotten.
I officially call this the real Web 1.0 the way it is supposed to be back when Gopher was around when it was about the information and accessibility before the POX of Flash (aka FutureWave Splash) and image oriented sites came around.
Like MP3 is MPEG 1.0 layer 3, let's call this Web 3.0.