MacDailyNews readers are complaining that ZDNet is forcing iPhone users onto a dumbed-down mobile version of their website (http://m.zdnet.com/).
This website will not allow iPhone users to take advantage of the full Web browsing capabilities of their Safari browser. Access to much of ZDNet’s content is not allowed. For example, reading or contributing reader comment is not permitted.
iPhone users are upset that ZDNet is forcing a limited, “baby” Web experience on iPhone users without offering a choice to access the full ZDNet site. As one McDailyNews iPhone user remarked via email, “I did not get an iPhone, so that I would be forced to endure a crippled online experience because other mobile browsers are not as capable as iPhone.” Another told us, “I would’ve gotten a Treo, if I wanted to have as crappy a Web experience as ZDNet is offering my iPhone.” Another asked, “Why, when our iPhones are perfectly capable of viewing and interacting with their Website, is ZDNet forcing us onto their &*#$%@! Website that’s meant for inferior mobile devices?”
MacDailyNews Take: ZDNet and all other websites that are automatically redirecting iPhone users to dumbed-down mobile verison fo their Websites need to follow the lead of MLB.com, the official site of Major League Baseball. MLB redirects iPhone users to their mobile version (http://wap.mlb.com/), but they also offer a link (visible to iPhone users) to their full MLB website. Sites such as ZDNet should know better than to force iPhone users — with their capacity to experience the full Internet — onto dumbed-down, crippled mobile sites that offer no means of escape.
Please contact :
ZDNet Senior Vice President Dan Farber:
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Swordmaker,” “Fred Mertz,” “Journo,” and many others for the heads up.]