Matt Mullenweg Interviewed By CNN Money

Matt Mullenweg was recently interviewed by CNN Money. He had a couple of interesting answers for some of the questions asked. For example, when asked about being acquired, he responded that the only time he would consider being acquired is if he could run the company acquiring him. When asked about what they would be talking about 10 years from now, Matt said within the next 5 years, he believes the majority of WordPress usage will be from touch-driven devices. Last but not least, when he mentions failures, he believes that they didn’t embrace mobile soon enough because the open source community doesn’t like those closed platforms, but he still doesn’t feel like the mobile apps are really where they should be at.

I find his comments on mobile apps especially interesting. I’ve used the WordPress for iOS app for some time now and while it’s definitely gotten better, some of the faults are not with the app itself, but with the device. I use an iPhone 4 and I’ve tried multiple times to write a blog post but each time I’ve given up in frustration. The auto-correct on the iPhone does more harm than good and the process for copying links from somewhere else to put inside the post just sucks. However, the app shines in comment notifications, post editing, and comment moderation. These three things are what makes the WordPress for iOS app the most useful to me. So what perplexes me is just how easy can the WordPress app make it to compose a post on the iPhone 4 before the device itself prevents any more improvements from happening?

I want to hear from you on how you’re mobile experience has been with WordPress whether it’s with Blackberry, iPhone or Windows Phone 7?

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5 responses to “Matt Mullenweg Interviewed By CNN Money”

  1. I have the WordPress app on my Android and my Kindle, and I rarely use it on either device. The post editing interface is just awful with hardly any screen space to see the writing, e.g. the Kindle keypad completely obliterates the post editing window when the device is horizontal. Plus, if you start a post on a mobile device, the WordPress app wants to Publish it immediately come hell or high water. I have a dickens of a time trying to save a new post as a Draft and have embarrassingly posted incomplete posts several times. Although, I’m not sure if this last problem still exists, since I barely use the app anymore.

    I do agree the app is absolutely great for working with comments, but, alas, my site hardly gets any of those.

  2. We all know you shouldn’t use the cell phone, while driving a car. It is not really possible to ‘split’ your attention between two activities, and still do them as well as you could, one at a time.

    But it works the other way, too. Any activity on a mobile device is also impaired, if you’re splitting your attention with other activities & environments. You can do better computer-work, of any kind, at a regular computer-station. True rumor.

    You can engage in passive consumer behavior with a mobile device while distracted, without penalty, but not so with anything creative … and of course, that’s a ‘feature’, not a bug. Biz-wise; passive-good, assertive-bad.

    Social media and mobile devices involve some hefty dumbing-down. Hopefully, the fad-aspect of it cools and many return to (or discover for the first time) the pleasures of being the digital actor, instead of the audience.

    Certainly, there is plenty of history that supports a fad-basis for currently popular digital products. Many things have been very hot at one point, and then subsequently not at all. Many think a new day will dawn, yet-again … but it probably won’t be a day in 2007, or 1999.

    If the headlines tomorrow are Facebook: RIP, that doesn’t mean we go back to pre-Facebook WordPress. Etc.

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