i.engadget.com - Engadget for your iPhone or iPod touch
By Ryan Block 
posted Aug 20th 2008 1:34PM
posted Aug 20th 2008 1:34PM
So far in 2008, the iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod touch account for some 95.8% of all mobile views on the full site. We're not even kidding. That doesn't factor the visitors who hit our current mobile version of the site, but it's pretty hard to argue with any number like that, so we're rolling out a new beta version of Engadget optimized for the iPhone at i.engadget.com. (Don't worry, we'll still be keeping original mobile site active at m.engadget.com.) Please feel free to let us know what you think in comments!
Oh, and for the stats nerds in the audience, you can check out Engadget's mobile device breakdown after the break.
Top 25 mobile / non-desktop devices hitting engadget.com (Jan 1, 2008 - Aug 20, 2008)
Note: some in the top 25 have few enough views that they don't constitute 1/10th of a percent (hence 0.0%). These stats don't include m.engadget.com
- Apple iPhone - 79.8%
- Apple iPod Touch - 16.0%
- Nintendo Wii - 1.1%
- HTC P3650 (aka Touch Cruise) - 0.5%
- Nokia N95 8GB - 0.4%
- Nokia N95 - 0.3%
- HTC X7500 - 0.2%
- LG VX10000 Voyager - 0.2%
- Nokia E90 - 0.2%
- Nokia N82 - 0.1%
- Nokia E51 - 0.1%
- Nokia N95-3 NAM - 0.1%
- Palm Treo 755p - 0.1%
- Nokia E61 - 0.1%
- Sony PlayStation Portable - 0.1%
- Nokia N73 - 0.1%
- Nokia N81 - 0.1%
- Nokia N78 - 0.0%
- Nokia 6120 classic - 0.0%
- Nokia E65 - 0.0%
- Danger Sidekick III - 0.0%
- Motorola RAZR2 V8 - 0.0%
- Samsung SCH-U940 - 0.0%
- Motorola Q9 - 0.0%
- Sony Ericsson P1i - 0.0%
Take that, iPhone nay-sayers!
shameless thread jack off this guy to draw ryan's attention but you know, shit comment and all...
in the UK i.engadget.com still displays the regular engadget
i love this idea btw - i use google's reader but would love this to work for me and have an icon on my home screen that isn't just the usual engadget optimisation
When reading the title i thought you were finally changing the name to iengadget.
Hah! Nice.
Its best that they do change their name to i.engadget. This site has more news about steve jobs and apple than macrumors and appleinsider combined.
You can get to the mobile Safari optimized version of any Weblogs Inc. page at i._____.com. Just replace the blank with the site. For example:
http://i.switched.com/
http://i.joystiq.com/
http://i.tuaw.com/
Just thought you should know.
the titles of the headings needs to be smaller, I can barely see what the article is about....
Everyone knows that the decision to make iPhone-compatible blogs was made by higher-ups at AOL, hence why every other Weblogs, Inc. blog got the same treatment. It's sad to see that this blog has slowly become yet another outlet for corporate bullshit.
Actually John, no. This dates way back to Engadget's redesign earlier this year, and was one of the long-term things I had slated. As it happens, just like when we rolled out the original mobile version of Engadget, from a software platform perspective doing all the other Weblogs, Inc. sites together isn't much different of a task than doing a single site.
Can we have comments on m.engadget.com?
in reply to hellouser:
I am so sick of people saying that engagdet is apple biased. Do you remember when Bill gates was leaving? They had a ton of posts about him, so many that they needed another just to round it all up. Notice how there are enough posts about netbooks to make you sick?It's because it's a big trend at the moment. It is almost like, they give lots of coverage to big things! So it should be no surprise or indication of bias when a hugely anticipated phone is released, and covered abundantly. The fact that Apple is gaining popularity should mean that there are most posts about them than there used to be. And to release some specialized for 95.8% of your viewer base isn't an indication of fanboism either, it is just common sense. I prefer windows in most ways, but I am just sick about people crying fanboy at Engagdet.
jacubious,
Yeah, but what you forget is, Apple is about the only tech company that has foaming-at-the-mouth rabid haters. It wouldn't matter if they introduced iWorldPeace for $1.99, there would be furiously angry folks having a brain hemmorrhage at anyone who dared say anything good about it.
It makes the clueless fanboys sound like Einstein.
I say either shrink the text or text-wrap, if possible....otherwise, looks great.
considering all the love that engadget has over the iphone it should be renamed that way :)
anyways thank u and i welcome this customization for the iphone.
bookmarking now
:)
@UnixSystemEngineer:
Are you honestly saying that there are people who are foaming at the mouth Microsoft haters? This forum has many, many people who fall into that category. Some of them were banned, some are still around who will say anything about Microsoft - one (will not mention his name - he does not deserve it) will slam anything Microsoft makes, but then had a temper-tantrum that people were saying "hey, my iPhone does not work correctly." When Microsoft announced a few years back that they were going to be at some OSS conference, there were death threats made against some of the poeple there on /. And about the time when they were doing a BillG tribute when he was leaving, some of the writers were respectful and said "Thanks for what you did", while there were some that had the childish attitude of "If you can't find anything nice to say, slam him." (Ryan was not one of them). A few years ago on News.com.com.com.com when a MS employee comitted suicide, one of the commentators (Skinny DuBaud if you were around back then) over there mocked him, saying that MS was so evil that they drove him to it. And on, and on, and on. Anybody who thinks that Apple is the only company that has rabid haters, is truly derranged.
Yes, Apple has their haters. It may sound like I am one of them based on my post history, but I really am not. I just want the products of theirs that I own to work. SOme things like how when you delete all mail it tells me I have -MaxInt unread items brings a little chuckle, but it is not a deal breaker. A web browser that crashes frequently is bad, but not going to make me throw it away. But people have real problems, like when I could only use the phone as a phone because of a problem with the headphone jack (read the Apple discussions, there are numerous reports of it), or because of error 1603, which an Apple employee told me it was my fault only to be recognized as a firmware update problem later, and many other problems (again, see the Apple discussion board). Some of the Apple fans here say "nope, it is not a problem it is your fault", then you get a lot of angry people who are tired of being slammed just for trying to use the phone as a phone.
The joke was that Microsoft could cure cancer and give it away for free, and they would still be demonized for it. Now, Apple is getting the same treatment. As you grow beyond the true, die-hard lovers, who will overlook any problem big or small, you are going to have upset customers. And they are just voicing their opinion.
@UnixSystemsEngineer
"Apple is about the only tech company that has foaming-at-the-mouth rabid haters"
If you are saying that there are no foaming-at-the-mouth Microsoft haters, even more haters than Apple, then you really need to open your eyes.
Sure, Ryan (B), but do you really think that if you were the only one asking for it, you would have gotten what you wanted? It seems to me that the "redesign" was really a re-skinning with even more AOL logos plastered all over the place. Even the dated and broken comment system remains the same inasmuch as it needs a redesign.
And, if Engadget is as in control as you say it is, why not let us all in on Engadget's long-term goals? Isn't the whole point of a blog to tear down the barrier between the writer and the reader? You all have certainly done that on occasion (for example, Peter Rojas' brilliant article about his dad; I still remember reading it), but it seems like the sense of community here is less and less prevalent as time goes on.
There is a distinct lack of Windows Smartphones. It looks like they might be captured under IE and not under the mobile section of your statistics. Windows Smartphones have an enormous marketshare, it's impossible they they don't show up here , at least as #2 or #3.
Ok, I've had the Engadget RSS feed in my Mail.app for some time now, and from 23 juli '08 till now, there have been 737 posts on the blog. The iPhone related ones are:
'iPhone' in the Subject: 31 / 737
'iPhone' in Entire Message: 39 / 737
Call that an 'iPhone only' blog one more time... gee!
@Unix'
It would be just like those Apple bastards to try and put a price tag on world peace.
I'm afraid I don't like it. You can't read the whole headline, no pictures on the home page, and you have to click for every story.
Much better to go to the www.engadget.com site, zoom in on the first column, and add that as a link to your home screen. That way you can read the full article, and all the others on the page with pictures included (and most of the junk conveniently off-screen to the right).
I tried it out on my iPhone and it works pretty good. It may help when I have nothing but edge access and need my engadget fix.
@stephend
agreed. I wish they had thumbnails of the pics next to each article. Or maybe an icon depending on the subject - an Apple logo for apple posts, etc. that would require a lot on the full site though.
Also, there's a flash lego on the bottom of the post. Not sure if it's an add or maybe a comment system. Probably an add. I don't know, it's just a lego.
another feature I like (can't add this to other post. edit button. please.) is that when I go to http://www.engadget.com on my iPhone it doesn't automatically send me to http://i.engadget.com. I hate sites that do that. A designated i url is great. I use iPhone sites as Fluid menu extras for some of my favorite webapps, but when I tried to turn Facebook into one of these, it wouldn't let me.
If you have a iPhone and you can't see all the heading of the main page, simply keep your finger on the text for a few seconds and it will display a small box with the complete text.
Also, you can add a link to any address in the home screen. Just press the add button and choose Add to Home Screen. That simple!
RTFM
For those who don't have an iPhone: eat your heart out! LOL (only joking)
@SirPasta117 ...
... but when you read the article in its entirety you realized they should have changed the name to "enFanboy", right? :)
Except for minor issues, it looks pretty good on a desktop too. :P
now if only they could fix m.engadget.com. It was perfect before the site upgrade. heading, picture, article. Now its just a link that links you to the full site :-( gets a bit pricey to look at a few days pages @ 5-7c/kb, few hundred kb/page
What? Blackberry is not even on the list? I use it to read engadget all the time :)
That's actually a really good question. Here's why: BB users are automatically sent to the mobile version at m.engadget.com, which doesn't feed into the full-site stats. Some BB users override that, but so few do that RIM ranks way, way down the list.
You heard the man. Basically it's not an iPhone so can't help ya.
Ryan, that somehow doesnt count as engadget being browsed by a blackberry?
How did you distinguish between browsers? Nokia's S60 browser reports itself to be "Safari" when fetching content.
I would go on my BB if they had a decently formatted mobile page to view, but they dont, so I wait until work to check in.
how does it account for Opera mini? I spam your page all the time from my BB
@Ryan Block, good point. I came to realized that it is possible to force engadget to display the normal page (which shows you comments) if you add "?m=false" at the end of your URL. too late to fight for the honor of BB perhaps?
These stats should include any sites that are browsed by a mobile, including the BlackBerry.. I think its a lot bigger percentage than nil.
So, what are the total mobile stats then, including all this stuff? And, how does it compare to traditional computer-based hits on the main site? I have a Dash that I use constantly, and I hit Engadget regularly with it.
Ryan, could you give us combined stats for engadget.com AND m.engadget.com? I'm willing to bet that once the Blackberries are taken into account (e.g. my trusty 8700g), we will leapfrog the Wii. :-)
Do any of the popular mobile devices report themselves as (say) IE 7 for Win XP just to avoid getting shafted on website content? That might throw the stats off.
Totally agree with Matt & Square. Limiting the analysis to just mobile devices and showing that "nothing else even comes close" comparison is very misleading when m.engadget is excluded. To be fair, I think there should be an update to the article showing the breakout of views by platform...period...PC, Mac, m.engadget hits by BB, WM, etc., i.egadget, etc. I think that would still be very telling.
All that being said, it's good to see a population of users making heavy use out of the full engadget site are getting their own mobile space. I'll go back to m.engadget on my Treo I check a dozen times per day.
@Sqaure & Jim
I think you guys missed the point a bit. Those "mobile devices" seen in the stats Ryan posted are from devices which get directed to the normal Engadget page, not the mobile Engadget page. I think you can then say that these devices are capable of displaying the full Engadget page decently enough that they aren't directed to the mobile page by default.
As Ryan said, Apple touts mobile Safari as giving you the "full" Internet (which is very much so the case, IMO). These other devices might not. Devices that really have a hard time with full webpages should direct to the mobile Engadget by default. Although you have a valid point Square, I don't think you're understanding where Ryan is coming from.
Mobile Safari is very capable of displaying the full Engadget, as well as other Weblogs blogs. A device like a BlackBerry might not, which is why it goes to the mobile Engadget. Apple says mobile Safari is capable of handling the "full" Internet, so it goes to the "full" Engadget page. Black Berries (at least older ones, the Bold seems to have a pretty nice browser) probably have a hard time with the "full" Engadget, so yes, IMO, they should be directed to the mobile Engadget page. I don't see anything wrong with the way Engadget is dealing with mobile devices. I personally find browsing the web with my iPhone to be a fantastic experience. I do welcome the i-series of Weblogs blogs, especially TUAW.
Matt, I wish I could get deeper into m.engadget.com stats, but the only stats we have to go by are the ones I presented. I don't want to discount the impact of RIM devices though, and I'd remind people that we originally rolled out m.engadget.com to cater specifically to BlackBerry, WinMo, and other mobile users whose browsers aren't fully capable of handling the full Engadget page.
Ryan Block,
How can you be so certain that a large portion of Nokia S60 hits aren't falling under iPhone category, as Nokias distinguish as Safari.
What if all those Nokia hits are only the visits done with Opera browsers installed in Nokias?
If you think of Nokia's global dominance in internet-capable mobile phones, these stats seem plain flawed. There has to be something wrong here. Why would Nokia users not want to visit Engadget?
Why is the Wii a mobile device?
I think just because it's not a PC.
I'd guess because it runs a version of Opera mini.
Technically the chart is speaking to the data which is labeled as "Top 25 mobile / non-desktop devices" - the article just doesn't reference that second portion of the title, but it should to alleviate confusion. Let's chalk it up to bad editing, shall we?
HUH? Why are all the replies to 'Craig J' showing up under 'Carl Vitullo'
exactly my thought. for a min there I was actually looking for the PS3 up there seeing as I use that a lot to check out the site and it hit me, we talkin' 'bout mobile devices here.
I would guess because you can download a web browser onto your wii to surf the web
it actually says "non-desktop devices"
This is actually just generally good, a lot of devices seem to use the 480x320 now.
Hmm, my reply was for the guy who asked why the Wii was listed as mobile....
dunno how that got that.
Huh. Maybe cuz they have the same datestamp?
Carl, are you bipolar or something ?
NO.
My schizophrenia's just acting up.
great! i only wish that my reception w-- NO CARRIER
Wow phanbouy,
How can I do comments by talking on my phone?
instant home screen icon
Agreed.
But decrease the font size on the home screen headlines... it's so big that it cuts off too much of the headline. Make the headlines the size of the text in the address bar - smaller, but still easily readable - and the usability/scan-ability goes way up.
Thanks for adding!
Wheres my old 8525 on that list? I must have used that thing for days on this site while traveling on the bus last year.
engadget,
keep it the way it is but include the picture with the title of the article.
That is all.
Thanks,
Rock
I second that. I like my pics.
Posting from my iPhone. Looks really nice! Thanks
if the numbers show there is a demand then kudos to Ryan and the folks at engadget for meeting the needs of us consumers.
just wait until you get to your computer
....
Thanks for the new version. Loads much faster now then it did.
Hrmm... I've always just viewed the desktop version of the site in Opera mini on my TyTn instead of the mobile version :P
Can we get a webclip icon, please? KTHXBAI
Good to know, but engadget is one of the few websites not blocked here at work.
How does viewing it via the i.engadget.com link compare to viewing it in Google's reader? I've never bothered to go outside the Reader on my iPhone, so can someone please explain to me what I would gain by going direct to the link instead? Thanks...
Do you want us to feed you and wipe your ass too?
no wonder engadget loves apple so much..........................jk dont flame me lol
did you think of that one all by yourself?
looks pretty good on a N810 too
I've been browsing Engadget on my N800 for a long time too, I'm kinda surprised that the N800/N810 didn't even show up on the list. The 800x480 screen makes reading Engadget easy; no mobile version needed for me.
i use my verizon xv6800 and it works quite well with the mobile site
I have this already. It's called Google Reader. I get all of your stories nicely formatted without ads. Handy.
Thanks so much... Love the instant icon on my home screen now... As a programmer I hate to use my desktop on the weekend, so now I will be able to catch up on engadget when I'm out and about. Great Add!!
Simply awesome Engadget. The iPhone/Touch is the best device to view the mobile version of Engadget.
If "this isn't a watered down version of the internet, or the mobile version of the internet, or the sort of 'looks like the internet' internet. It's just the internet. On your phone," then why does it need a specially-optimized version of this site?
Actually, never mind. This new version is pretty cool, even on the stock IE Mobile of Windows Mobile.
The hate is clouding your reading comprehension. Read the original post again.
This should shut up the iphone haters complaining about iphone coverage on engadget. With these numbers, how can you argue about the coverage? Engadget is just following readers' demands.
So what happens when more and more people get fed up with the (perceived/real, choose one) bias and decide to stop visiting? what are you left with?
simon: you get TUAW ;-)
This means that it's mostly iphone users who read the full version of the site and have their browser version set right. Nothing else.
Ryan said further up that m.engadget isn't counted in those stats, and I guess a lot of people use opera mini too, and how does that show on those statistics?
Also, I still think the majority of people use PC's to browse the net anyway ;)
Just goes to show that heads in the sand about what readers want, for any website, is not a good idea. If a site gets many, many requests for a feature, then maybe making readers happy is a good idea - competition is a click away. As for the "internet in your pocket" thing -- yes, it is true that standard sites work with the iPhone. However, even considering that, a lot of people want optimized sites that are designed to work well with a small screen on a mobile phone, especially if that site follows the UI guidelines of whatever that device might be. (if Palm devices had a lot of the page views, a p.engadget.com site might be a good idea, designed to look nice on that particular device, for example). Even with 3G and/or wifi, mobile sites can load faster, too, and fonts that aren't microscopic when the page first loads (that is, before the user zooms in on a portion of the page) lend a lot of appeal.
The NY Times looks far better on the iPhone than many newspaper sites do, for instance. They "get it" with regards to how to make a nice-looking mobile site that is easily read -- no panning all over the place; the entire site is the width of the screen and uses a comfortable font that is well-sized; ads are kept to a minimum and are well-placed (you can't use the principles that work on desktops on small phone screens!) and so on.
If only more sites "got it" and did what this site and the NY Times are doing: separate optimized versions that don't replace the existing desktop and standard mobile sites.
Now, why can't other sites I read do the same?
Cant you just make an application for the iphone/ipod touch it would make it a lot easier
Sweet can you then drop all that Apple trash from your news and only feed it to the idiots who own those devices.
You can keep all of the apple fail articles. Those are fun to read.
Nick, I assume that's you on your hands and knees in your avatar, but who is that behind you? Steve Ballmer? I'm assuming so, but the lack of visible sweat stains is causing some uncertainty.
Nick, you need a life. Clearly there is something wrong if the only joy in your life is getting all giddy when a company does something wrong. Talk to a professional.
Nick must have Windows Vista. Thats what happens to everyone by steve ballmer... Including me, I cant stand a Mac, deal with vista everyday, but hey.. I actually digg this iPhone.
@Quix
I don't think Ballmer's thumb drive is long enough to reach from that position, if you know what I mean...
ouch! guess Nick's free-pass-for-cool-avatar's worn off
@phanbouy
...you thought his avatar was cool...?
O_o
Pure Awesomeness..
I started liking engadget and weblogs inc because they offered the mobile versions. And now im glad you are still with us, evolving :)
Actually, I like i.engadget.com on my WinMo phone better than m.engadget.com
Good start. BUT it needs to display the whole story headline (meaning should be more then part of a line the ....) . Besides that big annoyance, I like the quick access to the page, to fill my troubled gadget addition.