CNN Mobile

Bringing CNN to Mobile Users Globally

In 2006, mobile technology was in its early days, with no iPhone, no App Store, no design frameworks and no advanced tools like Figma. Mobile video was barely accessible, and the concept of a “mobile-first” design was non-existent. Despite this, CNN saw the potential to reach a global audience through mobile devices. The goal was to develop a CNN International mobile news service, covering both web and app experiences, to engage users. The variety of phones on the market was huge with diverse screensizes and types of devices - Nokia’s N95 - the flagship smartphone with a sliding keypad and swivel camera, Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones, and the slick Motorola flip phone known as the Razr. The landscape was challenging, with application development only possible on the emerging Java Mobile and Brew platforms, and screen sizes generally limited to a resolution around 320 x 240 pixels at best! Across the board, device user experience was cumbersome.

Bringing CNN to Mobile Users Globally

In 2006, mobile technology was in its early days, with no iPhone, no App Store, no design frameworks and no advanced tools like Figma. Mobile video was barely accessible, and the concept of a “mobile-first” design was non-existent. Despite this, CNN saw the potential to reach a global audience through mobile devices. The goal was to develop a CNN International mobile news service, covering both web and app experiences, to engage users. The variety of phones on the market was huge with diverse screensizes and types of devices - Nokia’s N95 - the flagship smartphone with a sliding keypad and swivel camera, Sony Ericsson's Walkman phones, and the slick Motorola flip phone known as the Razr. The landscape was challenging, with application development only possible on the emerging Java Mobile and Brew platforms, and screen sizes generally limited to a resolution around 320 x 240 pixels at best! Across the board, device user experience was cumbersome.

Prototyping and Development

For prototyping, the project leveraged expertise from the gaming industry, where our development partner Tactel provided great design and performance insights for mobile apps. In an incredible achievement we managed to plot display live weather maps of each global region with GPS plotted weather information for each city which the user could pan around on their phone!

Inspired by CNN’s TV broadcasts, the team replicated breaking news animations and developed a 3D “unfolding” CNN logo animation for the app’s introduction, aiming to create a distinctive, immersive experience that would resonate with users worldwide.

My Learnings

Whilst we achieved a great result and launched the mobile web and app versions of the service, I certainly reflect back on the disproportionate effort we went to in developing technology and features that were feasible but impossible to scale due to the lack of penetration of capable phones in this pre-iPhone era. Whilst the most amazing technical feats came from the CNN mobile application, the real spread and penetration came from the mobile website and more attention needed to be spent there. This lesson is still true today!

Prototyping and Development

For prototyping, the project leveraged expertise from the gaming industry, where our development partner Tactel provided great design and performance insights for mobile apps. In an incredible achievement we managed to plot display live weather maps of each global region with GPS plotted weather information for each city which the user could pan around on their phone!

Inspired by CNN’s TV broadcasts, the team replicated breaking news animations and developed a 3D “unfolding” CNN logo animation for the app’s introduction, aiming to create a distinctive, immersive experience that would resonate with users worldwide.

My Learnings

Whilst we achieved a great result and launched the mobile web and app versions of the service, I certainly reflect back on the disproportionate effort we went to in developing technology and features that were feasible but impossible to scale due to the lack of penetration of capable phones in this pre-iPhone era. Whilst the most amazing technical feats came from the CNN mobile application, the real spread and penetration came from the mobile website and more attention needed to be spent there. This lesson is still true today!

Design, development and lauch of the International CNN mobile website and mobile application

Bringing CNN to Mobile Users Globally

Bringing CNN to Mobile Users Globally

Challenge: Designing a Mobile News Experience

Prototyping and Development

My Learnings

Prototyping and Development

My Learnings

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