NYTimes/ReadWriteWeb article about good mobile software

Here’s what ReadWriteWeb wrote yesterday (posted in the New York Times) about good mobile software.

Its so on point for what we’re doing at Rhomobile that its worth quoting at length. Its very clear that they could use something like the Rhomobile platform and the Rhodes app framework. These are very much inspired by Rails in many ways ironically enough since he is commenting on Basecamp which is of course the original Rails app. Here’s what Bernard Lunn has to say on good mobile software:

“Start With Mobile

My short-hand description is “like Basecamp but mobile native”. That is easy to say, but tough to implement for 4 reasons:

1. Mobile native user interface. Ideally 90% of my actions are on a mobile device with a tiny screen and keyboard. I will do the more complex configuration and housekeeping type work on a browser in the 10% of my time when I am working on a fully fledged laptop/desktop. Most developers spend 90% of their time creating on a laptop/desktop and only 10% communicating in the “real world”. For most of us, that ratio is different.

2. Offline syncing. Much of the time my mobile device is “off air”. Those are opportunities to catch up on To Do Lists, Objectives, Milestones and the other planning type activities. You can do these sitting on an airplane, train or waiting in line at Starbucks. Syncing your personal planning to your group communication tool (Basecamp or whatever) is an annoying extra step that is a time sink.

3. Any mobile device. I use a Blackberry. I like it, but I may get seduced by the iPhone or may have something totally different in the future. More to the point, I cannot possibly predict what devices my collaborators will have and the vast majority of mobile devices are neither Blackberry nor iPhone. Communication has to work at the lowest common denominator but the user interface has to be native. As a Blackberry user, I don’t care a hoot about the compromises the developer faces having to design for Blackberry, iPhone, Nokia, etc. The same is true for people with other devices, iPhone users being the most vehement about native user interfaces.

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