Mobile Site Design: A Standards-Free Wild West
Written by Fred J. AunAugust 13th, 2009
Aside from uncertainty about whether M-Commerce will earn them enough money to make it worthwhile, the sheer absence of Mobile Web design standards is a daunting problem for retailers that have yet to launch transaction-ready mobile sites. In many ways, it's still the Wild West when it comes to crafting M-Commerce sites that a retailer can expect will work well on all, or even most, mobile devices.
In an attempt to bring some sanity to the Mobile Web mess, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), in 2005, formed a Mobile Web Best Practices Working Group. In 2008, the group released a Mobile Web Best Practices guide that lists 60 recommendations. Apparently, there isn't even standardization among those hoping to create standards and even M-Commerce experts aren't all abreast of the situation. For example, Impact Mobile CEO and President Barry Schwartz said he was unaware of the W3C effort but noted the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) was busy crafting its own M-Commerce site design guidelines.
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I have strong reservations about the 'individual' certification and posting of that information for merchants. Can you imagine the potential employee poaching that might occur? The implications when competitors can look up how many are certified with each of their competitors? 
-Christine
