MobileWebsiteWatch

This is just a guilty favorite of mine. Gamefly, the online service that rents video games through the mail, in the same way that Netflix rents DVDs, has launched a full mobile version of its web site. This is a really great example of best practices for mobile web. The user has access to almost 100% of the features and functionality available on the regular site and it is presented in a view that is specialized for mobile. The interface is sleek and easy to use, Users can add games to their queue, organize the list of games they have coming, look up games and get info an cheats, even purchase games right from their phones. Another best practice point: no new URL. All you have to do is go to gamefly.com on any phone and you get the specialized view automatically. It even detects what kind of device you have and sets it up especially for that. I have tried it on both a Nokia and an iPhone and got a custom interface. Pretty slick.

The benefit here is that a service like Gamefly needs to keep it users engaged to keep them paying their subscriptions month after month. Allowing gamers to add a game to their queue wherver they may be (at a store or on the schoolbus getting a reccomendation from a friend) increases the level of interaction customers have with the service, and makes it personal since the interaction is occuring on their personal device.