I wrote last week about the new Bango Button, which the company says is an easy way to send web content to mobile handsets, and which I said offered a “pretty terrible” user experience. Somebody from Bango got in touch, wanting to know why I felt that way, and in explaining my position, I inadvertently learned a few things about the Button that changed my mind a bit, and revealed it to be much better than it initially appeared.
In short, I thought the experience wasn’t good (and I wasn’t the only one) for a few reasons: the first two times I tried using the button, it didn’t work — when I entered the URL I was given in my mobile browser, I was given some sort of “favorite not found” message from the WAP.com portal. This was after being asked for some “passcode”, which I wasn’t aware I had. I clicked that I’d forgotten my passcode (still not sure I ever had one in the first place), and was sent a new one via SMS. (In Bango’s defense, they say my phone/carrier should have been identified automatically, making the passcode unnecessary.)
After finally getting things working, instead of being sent right to the MobHappy URL I’d encoded in the button, I was taken to a WAP.com portal page with a link to the content — which isn’t what I expected.
The problem here (ignoring the two initial failures) is one of expectation. The experience isn’t anywhere as easy as I’d imagine/hoped from the description. The PR and marketing materials made it sound as if the content would somehow be pushed to my phone, but the initial experience made it appear that all that was happening was that long URLs were being transformed into slightly shorter “getXXXX.wap.com” ones, and then entering that required a bunch more clicks to get to the actual content encoded in the button.
It turns out — though it’s not mentioned anywhere in the PR/marketing materials I saw — that users only have to enter one of the getXXXX URLs a single time. This “pairs” their mobile favorites page on WAP.com with their PC browser, so any other Bango Buttons a user clicks in their PC browser will automatically get added to their WAP.com page. Then, they go to wap.com on their mobile — just wap.com, no other URL needed — and the links from the buttons they’ve clicked are there.
That’s actually quite good and useful in a number of ways for publishers and end users; it’s just left hidden and unexplained, and I fear, unnoticed by most people. If you want to regularly push mobile web links to your audience from your PC web site, the Bango Button is pretty cool. And, as I said in the earlier post, the ability to charge for content through the Button offers up a lot of interesting possibilities for content providers and publishers as well.
The good news is that the Bango Button offers some great functionality; the bad news is that the marketing materials for it don’t adequately explain how it works, nor what users should really expect — but that’s a fixable problem. The issue with any service, though, is that if you don’t get it right the first time, users are loathe to give you a second chance. This is even more true on mobile, where the annoyance of entering URLs and other info on a handset remain a high barrier to use.
But like I said, if you’re interested in regularly pushing content to your readers’ mobiles, or charging for web content, the Bango Button could work well for you. You’ve just got to be sure to educate your audience on how it works.
This looks quite neat. However I’m a little confused as to why when sitting at my PC I’m going to send an article to a mobile browser… surely I can read it on the PC… or print it out. I ask this as I notice the URL works for 30 mins.
Lee, sure you can read an article on the PC but that’s not really what the button is about. Your comment about printing it out is closer - in some ways a Bango Button can be seen like a print button - but rather than using trees it sends something to your mobile phone. Bango uses it for sending office directions to a phone - easier to store and carry, plus it saves the planet.
But also don’t just think that a button is just about getting an article (or page) onto your phone - it’s more about media. Take a radio station - Chris Moyles on Radio One perhaps. He has a web page, is active with blogs, forums, podcasts, photo galleries etc - all this media is perfect for consuming on the mobile. But without a Bango Button, how do you get those things onto your handset? Sure you can send text messages, search on mobile or enter a really long URL, but nothing is quite as reliable and simple as a Bango Button - especially the second time on. This meda focused area is where we are seeing most uptake - it is easier for people to understand why they want it on their phone…
Hope that helps.
I just gave it a go and it worked quite well. But I’m still unsure of the value. The comment above talks above sending content to the phone instead of printing it / or using it to consume content on the go. But the URL is only valid for 30 mins? Let’s say I’m about to leave the office and bango-button a page for reading on the train home - by the time I’m sat down, the URL has expired.
Am I missing something?
Hi Tim, when you click on your first Bango Button you see the “get12345.wap.com” URL - this is a one-time only URL that has an expiry date (as noted). Entering this URL takes you to the content but more importantly it binds your mobile and PC together.
Second time you click on a button you don’t see a “get12345.wap.com” URL, we simply tell you to visit “wap.com” - a much shorter URL that can be bookmarked. Bango automatically identifies you as you return and gives you the list of Bango Buttons you have pressed - think of them as a list of mobile favourites. This list of buttons/favourites have no expiry date, so you can go to “wap.com” at any time to visit or re-visit any of those sites.
Once your PC and phone are linked you can click lots of Bango Buttons on your PC and collect them all up for viewing on your mobile later via “wap.com”. So imagine I left my phone turned off in my coat pocket - as a Bango Button user I can be in the study finding cool mobile stuff, “clicking and collecting” for viewing later. I pick up my phone on the way to the train and simply visit “wap.com” to view all the collected stuff (and my previous stuff, unless I delete it)
Lastly, you can use “wap.com” to share things with friends - send invitations that let them view the cool stuff you have found.
Does that help?
This is good feedback, it sounds like we need to do a much better job of explaining the first and second time experience
Cheers,
Andy.