iPhone Germany – Web ‘n’ walk mobile search home page
Rating: sad, but true
by Bena Roberts
It’s sad, but true that I was desperate to check out the default search page on my new iPhone.
So clicking on the Safari icon on the idle screen you go straight to Web ‘n’ walk. On the demo in the shop the default was set to eBay; so I was eager to check out this page and see it was any different to search on a Microsoft device or the Sony Ericsson Walkman.
To my surprise, it was different. Very different. To check my analysis I made sure my multi-sim cards were in the other devices at the same time and I tested all three search experiences simultaneously.
The iPhone search was defaulted to Web ‘n’ walk but a much richer user interface which is tabbed at the top to cover mobile content services. Basically similar to the screenshot below but where Home is there are three other pink banners directing to content services.
Windows the search experience was very similar to this graphic I found on the T-Mobile website (above).
On the SonyEricsson there were to search possibilities. The first in the idle screen which was like the graphic above but the very top search box was missing there is just the Google box followed by three buttons: Accessories; Fun & Downloads and Settings. This is definite is a Sony Ericsson specific client embedded into SE devices.
But then when you click the world button on the user interface of the device it defaults to the t-zones page as you see here. What is cool though is that the ad banners are also very different.
i-phone – 3 different banners one headline and two half banners
Windows device just one banner.
T-zones – one flashing button banner next to a half banner text link. Then under those two sponsored links.
I immediately noticed a different navigation on the t-zones portal which reduces the number of clicks. If you look at the t-zones search box navigation does no longer automatically force users to click on each description but it automatically jumps to the categories making it faster to navigate.
So, last time I noticed that T-Mobile had five different search boxes on its Web ‘n’ walk/t-zones. Now I notice that it also has three different portal home pages for its device range.
The default on the iPhone is not as important as the others as it so easy to connect to the pc to download favourites that any page could be the home page on the iPhone. But what I find unusual is that there is no mobile content, ringtone or downloads (basically t-zones) available on the iPhone web ‘n’ walk home page.
I realise this is because of itunes and the immediate integration to the iPhone but I also find it a shame because a t-zones on device client would have looked great on the idle screen of the iPhone and probably would have generated strong sales of downloadable content other than music (wall papers, viral content etc.) I say this because I have never watched YouTube as much as I have this weekend.
I have even saved that famous video of the couple dancing to “Time of my life” Dirty Dancing theme – which I would have never done in the past. I feel that the user interface is that impressive that it would be the ideal showcase for strong t-zones content left hidden on standard mobile devices.
My iPhone experience has been one of using Google search, iTunes, Google Maps and YouTube – but nothing that makes me identify with my operator.
Why is this important? Because brands are available on every device. The iPhone is just a device. T-Mobile needs to make itself sticky and after years of trying it has its t-zones right – so why not use it?
On a final note my its taken me my whole thirteen years in mobile to teach my mother how to use a mobile phone and my four year already knows how to make a call on the iPhone.
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