I prefer to use the full version of nearly every site I visit and many of the sites I have encountered have provided the means to leave the mobile version for the full version, or leave the full version for the mobile version. Facebook did this particularly well. I understand that many mobile web browsers lack the capabilities of their fixed computing cousins but that does not mean that all mobile devices and browsers share in those limitations. I also understand that many mobile devices still sit on very slow networks and bandwidth may be limited, but that is no longer a given.

I hope that product teams begin to realize that the choice to use the mobile or full version of any site is an important factor in the overall user experience. I think the choice to make the mobile version the default option (upon detection of a mobile browser) is prudent but the user should be allowed to make the choice that is best for their needs and for the capabilities of their mobile device of choice.

It seems to me that convergence is just a distraction from the real dynamic at play in the digital world - metamorphosis. Currently the iPhone is seen as a phone that has some very powerful elements that add value to its core identity as a phone. What we are seeing is that the iPhone is just a caterpillar to the device that will emerge from the change that has started with the 2.0 iPhone software update.

Applications are and web access are at the heart of the iPhone. Sure, you can take calls and get SMS messaging but the fact that it is a handheld computer is the real power behind the device. It is that factor - that it is a phone with the soul of a computer - that will drive the process of change and take the iPhone from its current crude state to the form of a mobile platform that will make laptops look like monstrously large anachronisms.

With the iPhone I can blog (as witnessed by my previous post), track my social networks, keep up with my ever-growing task list (thanks to OmniFocus), manage my flickr set, read office docs (FileMagnet), and keep all of this data in sync with my laptop (which I rarely need to carry anymore). All of this is happening and the iPhone App Store is just over a week old. Imagine when developers dig in and begin to push this device to its limits. Imagine what will happen when Apple improves the iPhone or creates new mobile computing platforms that take the best of the iPhone and iPod Touch and truly give them wings.

Convergence still has its merits but I would rather focus on what happens after convergence than what leads up to that point. I, for one, am going to think in terms of metamorphosis from now on.

This passage in particular had me picking my jaw up off the floor because it captured a core belief I have always held about user experience design but have never been able to say it quite this concisely …

Each moment has the potential to increase a user’s confidence or destroy his trust in a product or a company, and each one is an important piece of the whole experience.

Why? Because the task a person is attempting to complete at any given moment is the most important task to that person, at that moment.

It is our job to make sure nothing goes wrong.  To make sure that moment is enjoyable and productive, and helps our user feel smart.

- Robert Hoekman Jr. from Designing the Moment page xiii

This book is a fantastic follow on to Designing the Obvious.  His first book gave us the expression of the qualities of great web apps and the framework to create them.  Designing the Moment gives us an approach to creating great solutions for our users so that they will be truly and deeply satisfied with their experience.

I said this after reading Designing the Obvious and it is also true for Designing the Moment - if you have anything to do with the conceptualization and design of web applications, sites, or even traditional software then you should immediately buy this book.  This book presents some fantastic tools you can add to your user experience design tool box.

Ok, ok … its just a glitch in the system but it scared the crap out of me when I saw it.

Paizo continues to rock!

kidrobot has it!

My Plastic Heart sold out, and they are restocking!

Noble Knight Games has it!

Panik’s Toy Box has it too!

UPDATE!

fugitive toys joins in

Paizo is one of, if not the largest ecommerce site dedicated gaming. Check out their top 10 and take note of numbers 5, 8, and 9. sweet.