GregBellDesign

One of the interesting differences between the mobile web and the desktop web, is that page weight is even more important on mobile devices. You can't just slap on a bunch of information and call it a home page. The information needs to be the most important, no more, no less.

The problem that I had today, was that I wanted to look at information that wasn't as important as the main message, and it was hidden from me. It wasn't just hidden, I actually was not given access to it.

Example 1 - EA Mobile

I went to the EA Mobile site to take a look at what games were available, as well as possibly use the site for my study. I was surprised to see that I couldn't even look at the games that they offer unless they are available for my phone. While I like that they explicitly tell me that none of their games are available for my platform, I would still like to be able to check out their games.

Example 2 - Gameloft

The exact same thing happened to me at Gameloft. I wanted to check out the available games, NOT just the games available for my phone. But, I was not given access to any of the site.

What would be the harm in allowing users to still browse their games? Why block it off? Why couldn't I have been warned, but still allowed to check out all of their games?

I am sure that there are hundreds of marketing and business reasons that you could come up with for why you should allow users to see your product, even if it isn't available to them.

Lesson learned: Even if products aren't available to users, give them a way to check them out, but make sure that they are aware that the product is not available.