Skyfire makes mobile advertising obsolete
April 15, 2009
I had the time to review the Beta Skyfire Mobile Browser for my Windows Mobile Samsung Blackjack II smart phone. Roughly a month ago I installed the Skyfire Browser with the knowledge that I had to continue to run my advertising agency when away, and away meaning not able to have access to a computer.
I had IM, IMAP Mail, FTP, and now a fully functional browser with an unlimited bandwidth package.
The Good:
Technically the browser is a God Send, it renders flash with no problem. I was able to watch full length movies on Hulu.com and all I can eat YouTube on a 3G network. It’s interesting to be able to see full length movies and TV shows while sitting passenger side in a car.. or in my case walking around in Disney world as my kid keeps running circles to get off a ride.. run around and get back on the ride.
The webpages render almost exactly as they do in Firefox and allows me to do everything from posting to Tribble Advertising Agency to checking up on the latest stock prices on Yahoo and Google Finance to as noted prior, watching full length movies on Hulu.
As promised the browser delivers a full desktop experience.
The Bad:
Skyfire does have some limitations, for example it appeared to have some serious problems with the new Digg “toolbar” feature… and couldn’t move down in the frame.. meaning that I was unable to read the rest of the article, only what was above the fold, and the fold was half “eaten” by Digg.
It also has some problems on CBS.com (though it can read Hulu.com just fine) … it wouldn’t allow me to select the drop downs no matter how I tried to get there.
It doesn’t self upgrade, and when you visit skyfire.com using the skyfire browser it doesn’t identify it as coming from a mobile device, so it doesn’t send you a cab file to download, it sends to an EXE that doesn’t work for mobile..
In order to upgrade the browser, I had to visit skyfire.com using Mobile Internet Explorer.. then skyfire realized I was on a mobile device. This is almost a comical problem, but it was a problem trying to upgrade on the road.
The Ugly:
The ugly has nothing to do with it’s technical features, the browser works.. in fact it’s the best browser I have seen for a mobile device. The ugly however is in their terms and conditions.
Basically skyfire logs everything you visit, and it appears that the webpages are actually rendered on their servers, then you are sent an image of what the site looks like.
This made me think twice before giving in and Going to Paypal to pay an invoice I forgot to pay when I was still near a computer. My fear, possibility unfounded, but real non-the-less was that my username and password are being stored on their servers.
I found nothing stating in their terms and conditions that they do not collect my paypal username and password for example.
Also I wouldn’t visit any site on that browser that you wouldn’t want everyone to know about, because since they do store every url and site you visit, it could be embarrassing and highly problematic to see you on Monster.Com on your company paid phone.
Overall this is the best browser for the mobile market, it renders mobile advertising and mobile only sites obsolete something we have been preaching for years. But now it’s to the point where the skyfire browser is a game changer.
I wouldn’t want to be a mobile only advertising firm right now.
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Not sure why this “make mobile advertising obsolete”… if anything it makes traditional online advertising less effective because of all the pinch and scrolling… say goodbye to right-sidebar ads and sponsorships – the web real estate has just changed!
The bottom line is that traditional websites are not designed for mobile viewing – and no matter how bad ass of a browser you can make, people don’t want to be pinching around the web. Mobile users want a tailored experience, and that is what we are going to give them.
If anything these browsers prove the case for custom mobile experiences, and the ads that will fund them…
-Kevin
I donno Kevin,
For the past month i’ve been *almost exclusively* using my mobile phone, not once did I hit a “mobile site” … every site I hit was the desktop version… and I’ve been posting like crazy on forums, blogs, watching videos… just basically everything I would have been doing on my desktop or laptop.
Even uploading videos to Youtube!
Skyfire isn’t perfect… but it’s one hell of a indicator on how things are going….
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