5 ms·

Calling bullshit on 'mobile strategy'

25 points by ximeng 14y ago

ximeng 14y ago
"If you want to build a formidable business for the long term then you need a ubiquity strategy, not a mobile strategy." I like this idea, matches up with some of the strategies in robomartin's comment at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5068777 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5068777 .
wamatt 14y ago
The OP has a point, however I'll add Supercell doesn't appear to be doing too terribly with their mobile only strategy. http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/16/supercell-the-cash-rich-little-known-finnish-startup-that-could-soon-be-worth-600m/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/16/supercell-the-cash-rich-lit...
Angostura 14y ago
That's a slightly odd article. It seems to concentrate on the form-factor of the screen, and ignore the most interesting parts of mobile strategy; the ability to react to the changing location and orientation of the user.
- alan_cx 14y ago
  Isn't the article attacking corporate speak? I realise there is more to it, but its basically saying corporations call a screen size change a "strategy".
greenyoda 14y ago
It's annoying when people assume that something that might apply to their own business is applicable to all businesses. Not every type of business needs to be ubiquitous to be successful; it depends on the market. For example, if your business is leasing virtual servers, it's not likely that you'd need to have a mobile app to do so. If you're Apple (or Microsoft or IBM), your software doesn't have to run on every computer architecture to be successful. If you have a successful game that runs on iOS and Android, you might not get a proportional return from investing the resources to make it run on Windows 8.
- mattquiros 14y ago
  I don't think he's really talking about all businesses--only those who claim to need a "mobile strategy."
  - ximeng 14y ago
    Agree, the search results for "mobile strategy" are rather breathless. http://www.fastcompany.com/3001816/your-company-needs-mobile-strategy-yesterday-and-these-numbers-prove-it http://www.fastcompany.com/3001816/your-company-needs-mobile... http://www.inc.com/ss/6-reasons-why-you-need-a-mobile-strategy#2 http://www.inc.com/ss/6-reasons-why-you-need-a-mobile-strate... http://www.zdnet.com/a-better-mobile-strategy-quantify-this-7000009720/ http://www.zdnet.com/a-better-mobile-strategy-quantify-this-...
- dasil003 14y ago
  What's even more annoying is when MBAs go around pronouncing vast generalizations based on which way the wind blowing with no basis in any actual real business. FWIW, I'm not sure if he is doing that, but it sure reads like that.
bsaul 14y ago
I've been thinking about way to describe UI in a matter of intentions ( "show this piece of data first, then this one, "warn the user", etc) rather than graphic property and let the device ( or a framework) generate that depending on the device. Anyone knows of such a technology ?
- shawn-butler 14y ago
  xForms
netcan 14y ago
I don't understand the point of what he is saying. Is this just a dig at business cliches? "Mobile" like "Computerization" or "Internet" or "Globalisation" before it is a big change to the world that affects most/many businesses in one way or another. Among some other effects, it affects how you interact with customers. It's completely reasonable for businesses to spend some energy thinking about "How does/should this affect me?" Maybe the answer is "very little" but it's worth figuring out.
prof_hobart 14y ago
I'm calling bullshit on a strawman argument. I'm not aware of anyone who really thinks that "mobile" is the be and and end all of their channel strategy. It's just the current/next (depending on where your company is at this point) channel to go after. On the flipside, all channels are not created equally. Your mobile phone is not simply a version of your PC in your pocket. Nor is the car dashboard. All have an awful lot in common, but they also have their own specific features. Your laptop or your car is unlikely to become a replacement for your wallet at any point, for example (you could argue that your mobile phone doesn't seem to be doing that either yet, but you know what I mean). And there's plenty of things that make sense to implement on big PC or tablet screen, but make far less sense on a phone screen etc. So while no-one should have a "mobile-only" strategy (which pretty much no-one does anyway), having a "mobile-specifc" angle to your overall channel strategy is entirely sensible.
- marknutter 14y ago
  > I'm not aware of anyone who really thinks that "mobile" is the be and and end all of their channel strategy > So while no-one should have a "mobile-only" strategy (which pretty much no-one does anyway) Path, Snapchat, Color, Flipboard, Pair, Yardsale, Rumgr, etc. There are lots more, those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
  - prof_hobart 14y ago
    Do you really think that none of them are looking at other platforms? Most of the ones I know on that list are already on at least tablet as well, and I would be amazed if someone there isn't at least thinking about future channels (whether that be smart TV, Google Glass or whatever).
    - marknutter 14y ago
      There's a big difference between thinking about other platforms and actually supporting other platforms. Users typically don't care what a company is thinking of doing; they care what they're doing.
seivan 14y ago
"I hold an MBA from both Columbia University and the London Business School." If someones business (in software) needs to be 100% quality made, it needs to be native for that particular platform, using its native functionalities. Wether it's on iOS, Android or Windows. For iOS, it's plugging into the notification centre, the ability to use the calendar as well as the address book. File storage, background services and etc. 'Mobile Strategy' is basically a strategy to be 100% quality on mobile. It's not the end strategy, but if your customer base is mobile, then yeah, mobile strategy. Jeez, people like him generally don't grasp the complexity of software. No one really has "ONLY" mobile, unless their business won't work on a desktop. Or they don't see any business value on being on the desktop.
- marknutter 14y ago
  > I hold an MBA from both Columbia University and the London Business School. What's this ad hominem crap? The guy can't have an opinion on this because he's an MBA and "generally [can't] grasp the complexity of software"? There are a ton of mobile apps out there that don't have any desktop analog and this guy is suggesting that's a poor strategy, just like having a desktop website with no mobile interface is a poor strategy. And what the heck does any of this have to do with whether or not you use native code? It's a fallacy to state that software needs to be "100% quality made". What does that even mean? Bug free? Sure. Super pretty? Maybe? Native over web? Now come on... > No one really has "ONLY" mobile Path, Snapchat, Color, Flipboard, Pair, Yardsale, Rumgr, etc. All apps with little or no desktop web counterpart. The last two have to do with selling and require a large network effect, and yet they are both only available on mobile, and even worse, only on iOS; a perfect example of how a narrow "mobile only (ios first)" strategy can detract from your product.
welcomebrand 14y ago
Read the article, thought it was a bit wooly and vague. Agreed with this comment which points out the obvious nicely. http://www.techinasia.com/mobile-strategy-is-bullshit/#comment-110614 http://www.techinasia.com/mobile-strategy-is-bullshit/#comme... All nicely wrapped up.

25 points by ximeng 14y ago

"If you want to build a formidable business for the long term then you need a ubiquity strategy, not a mobile strategy." I like this idea, matches up with some of the strategies in robomartin's comment at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5068777 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5068777 .

wamatt 14y ago

The OP has a point, however I'll add Supercell doesn't appear to be doing too terribly with their mobile only strategy. http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/16/supercell-the-cash-rich-little-known-finnish-startup-that-could-soon-be-worth-600m/ http://pandodaily.com/2012/11/16/supercell-the-cash-rich-lit...

Angostura 14y ago

That's a slightly odd article. It seems to concentrate on the form-factor of the screen, and ignore the most interesting parts of mobile strategy; the ability to react to the changing location and orientation of the user.

alan_cx 14y ago
Isn't the article attacking corporate speak? I realise there is more to it, but its basically saying corporations call a screen size change a "strategy".

greenyoda 14y ago

It's annoying when people assume that something that might apply to their own business is applicable to all businesses. Not every type of business needs to be ubiquitous to be successful; it depends on the market. For example, if your business is leasing virtual servers, it's not likely that you'd need to have a mobile app to do so. If you're Apple (or Microsoft or IBM), your software doesn't have to run on every computer architecture to be successful. If you have a successful game that runs on iOS and Android, you might not get a proportional return from investing the resources to make it run on Windows 8.

mattquiros 14y ago
I don't think he's really talking about all businesses--only those who claim to need a "mobile strategy."
- ximeng 14y ago
  Agree, the search results for "mobile strategy" are rather breathless. http://www.fastcompany.com/3001816/your-company-needs-mobile-strategy-yesterday-and-these-numbers-prove-it http://www.fastcompany.com/3001816/your-company-needs-mobile... http://www.inc.com/ss/6-reasons-why-you-need-a-mobile-strategy#2 http://www.inc.com/ss/6-reasons-why-you-need-a-mobile-strate... http://www.zdnet.com/a-better-mobile-strategy-quantify-this-7000009720/ http://www.zdnet.com/a-better-mobile-strategy-quantify-this-...
dasil003 14y ago
What's even more annoying is when MBAs go around pronouncing vast generalizations based on which way the wind blowing with no basis in any actual real business. FWIW, I'm not sure if he is doing that, but it sure reads like that.

bsaul 14y ago

I've been thinking about way to describe UI in a matter of intentions ( "show this piece of data first, then this one, "warn the user", etc) rather than graphic property and let the device ( or a framework) generate that depending on the device. Anyone knows of such a technology ?

shawn-butler 14y ago
xForms

netcan 14y ago

I don't understand the point of what he is saying. Is this just a dig at business cliches? "Mobile" like "Computerization" or "Internet" or "Globalisation" before it is a big change to the world that affects most/many businesses in one way or another. Among some other effects, it affects how you interact with customers. It's completely reasonable for businesses to spend some energy thinking about "How does/should this affect me?" Maybe the answer is "very little" but it's worth figuring out.

prof_hobart 14y ago

I'm calling bullshit on a strawman argument. I'm not aware of anyone who really thinks that "mobile" is the be and and end all of their channel strategy. It's just the current/next (depending on where your company is at this point) channel to go after. On the flipside, all channels are not created equally. Your mobile phone is not simply a version of your PC in your pocket. Nor is the car dashboard. All have an awful lot in common, but they also have their own specific features. Your laptop or your car is unlikely to become a replacement for your wallet at any point, for example (you could argue that your mobile phone doesn't seem to be doing that either yet, but you know what I mean). And there's plenty of things that make sense to implement on big PC or tablet screen, but make far less sense on a phone screen etc. So while no-one should have a "mobile-only" strategy (which pretty much no-one does anyway), having a "mobile-specifc" angle to your overall channel strategy is entirely sensible.

marknutter 14y ago
> I'm not aware of anyone who really thinks that "mobile" is the be and and end all of their channel strategy > So while no-one should have a "mobile-only" strategy (which pretty much no-one does anyway) Path, Snapchat, Color, Flipboard, Pair, Yardsale, Rumgr, etc. There are lots more, those are just the ones I can think of off the top of my head.
- prof_hobart 14y ago
  Do you really think that none of them are looking at other platforms? Most of the ones I know on that list are already on at least tablet as well, and I would be amazed if someone there isn't at least thinking about future channels (whether that be smart TV, Google Glass or whatever).
  - marknutter 14y ago
    There's a big difference between thinking about other platforms and actually supporting other platforms. Users typically don't care what a company is thinking of doing; they care what they're doing.

seivan 14y ago

"I hold an MBA from both Columbia University and the London Business School." If someones business (in software) needs to be 100% quality made, it needs to be native for that particular platform, using its native functionalities. Wether it's on iOS, Android or Windows. For iOS, it's plugging into the notification centre, the ability to use the calendar as well as the address book. File storage, background services and etc. 'Mobile Strategy' is basically a strategy to be 100% quality on mobile. It's not the end strategy, but if your customer base is mobile, then yeah, mobile strategy. Jeez, people like him generally don't grasp the complexity of software. No one really has "ONLY" mobile, unless their business won't work on a desktop. Or they don't see any business value on being on the desktop.

marknutter 14y ago
> I hold an MBA from both Columbia University and the London Business School. What's this ad hominem crap? The guy can't have an opinion on this because he's an MBA and "generally [can't] grasp the complexity of software"? There are a ton of mobile apps out there that don't have any desktop analog and this guy is suggesting that's a poor strategy, just like having a desktop website with no mobile interface is a poor strategy. And what the heck does any of this have to do with whether or not you use native code? It's a fallacy to state that software needs to be "100% quality made". What does that even mean? Bug free? Sure. Super pretty? Maybe? Native over web? Now come on... > No one really has "ONLY" mobile Path, Snapchat, Color, Flipboard, Pair, Yardsale, Rumgr, etc. All apps with little or no desktop web counterpart. The last two have to do with selling and require a large network effect, and yet they are both only available on mobile, and even worse, only on iOS; a perfect example of how a narrow "mobile only (ios first)" strategy can detract from your product.

welcomebrand 14y ago

Read the article, thought it was a bit wooly and vague. Agreed with this comment which points out the obvious nicely. http://www.techinasia.com/mobile-strategy-is-bullshit/#comment-110614 http://www.techinasia.com/mobile-strategy-is-bullshit/#comme... All nicely wrapped up.