IE 6: Now Coming To A Cell Phone Near You
Something was brought to my attention which, to say the least, left me a little baffled: IE 6 is coming to mobile phones...
The Windows Mobile Team blog writes in Internet Explorer Mobile 6 that they’re bringing a new web browser version to the Windows Mobile operating system. And guess what: major parts of it seems to be based on IE 6!
The idea is to offer a full desktop web browsing experience but on a cell phone. From the CNET article Inside Microsoft’s new mobile browser:
The biggest benefit will be the fact that it is the full IE 6 rendering engine, meaning that any page that renders properly in IE 6 on the PC should do just fine on Windows Mobile.
What? Like, what?!
The reputation and history of IE 6
Just as pointed out in many comments to the Windows Mobile Team post, first of all, IE 6 is probably one of the most hated web browsers that have ever existed. Second, even if they didn’t have anything in common, just by choosing that name, it would install a dissatisfactory feeling amongst developers.
The lack of standards support in IE 6
As stated, it’s a mobile web browser based on IE 6, but with Jscript v5.7 (same as in the upcoming IE 8). So, while I really appreciate better scripting support, my conclusion is that this also means that it will have all the numerous HTML and CSS flaws in IE 6, problems everyone thought was being phased out with the ever-decreasing market share of IE 6.
Coming to a mobile world near you, all of these bugs, and these shortcomings and, best of all, once again introducing the concept of hasLayout.
Fatal strategic error
To be honest, I can’t really fathom this. It has to be some sort of fatal strategy error in the Windows Mobile development. I acknowledge the fact that they want a more desktop-like web browser with more features, and their need to try and meet up with their competitors. But really, to choose the core rendering of the most flawed web browser in the market and have it as the corner stone for a new web browser, released in late 2008 or perhaps 2009, is ridiculous!
IE 6 was released in 2001, and has been the shame of the internet for many, many years. To 7 (!) years later think that that web browser is what they need to compete with Safari for iPhone and Opera Mini is not even laughable, but just out sad.
A number of companies are gradually phasing out IE 6 support, as it’s just not worth the development costs for workarounds, fixes and hacks anymore. Think web sites will work well in IE 6 for Windows Mobile? Not very likely…
ZDNet wrote about worldwide smart phone market share, where it looked like this:
- Nokia: 47 %
- Apple: 17 %
- RIM: 15 %
- Microsoft Windows Mobile phones: 14 %
With bringing IE 6 to Windows Mobile, how do you think this will pan out for Windows Mobile share in the future? My take: not for the better, that’s for sure.
Robert has been working with web developing, mostly interface coding, since 1998. His biggest interests lies in HTML, CSS and JavaScript, where especially JavaScript has been a love for quite some time. He regularly blogs at http://www.robertnyman.com about web developing, and is running/partaking in a number of open source projects (http://code.google.com/u/robnyman/). Robert is a DZone MVB and is not an employee of DZone and has posted 9 posts at DZone.
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Comments
stuq replied on Tue, 2008/12/02 - 9:41am
Andrew Herron replied on Tue, 2008/12/02 - 12:12pm
in response to: stuq
Really? Just because they release a bad browser the whole OS is bad? Geez, I guess that makes Windows 2000/XP horrible, huh?
WinMo is not, and will not become, irrelevant. With companies like Samsung and HTC developing new interfaces to work on top of WinMo things seem to be just fine. The open development of the platform, general hackability, and small cost of use to the manufacturer means this platform IS relevant and will remain so.
Now there's no doubt the idea of using IE 6 for the new version of native browser shows the lack of vision to the WinMo team. Surely it'll be a step up from the current mobile version of IE. We also don't know if this is the same IE they'll include in the new version of WinMo due out in 2009. This could simply be a precursor and/or what will come out with WinMo 6.5 that will come out early next year.
Aside from that who doesn't already use Opera Mobile or Safari? My HTC, and as far as I know the Samsung as well, comes with the native (non-java) version of Opera Mobile.
I think a better statement would have been that IE on the mobile is STILL irrelevant.
stuq replied on Tue, 2008/12/02 - 12:36pm
in response to: kritikal
Hi Andrew,
The whole OS was already bad. I've used it. Now it's not only bad, it's running ages behind new non-Windows Mobile devices that are announced almost weekly (Nokia, RIM, Apple, etcetera).
That makes Windows Mobile irrelevant.
Andrew Herron replied on Tue, 2008/12/02 - 1:34pm
I suppose relevancy is subjective, eh?
http://gizmodo.com/5100842/blockbuster-to-stream-movies-to-windows-mobile-phones-via-live-mesh