This would be a great idea IMO. Supported on iPhone and Android and soon to be on blackberry and nokia. Might give us something cool to advertise since everyone seems to have smartphones these days, and its free to set up!

"Tapatalk supports vBulletin (3.x and 4.x) and phpBB forums and forum owner can activate this service for free. Tapatalk supports all the usual forum functions plus full screen image viewing, image upload, caching (less reload), private messaging, all these features are accessible in just a few simple taps."

Tapatalk for iPhone:
Showing New and Unread Posts:



Full Thread Viewing and Pagination Support:


See Who'* Online:


Reply to Post and Image Upload:


Some of the large forums activated Tapatalk support




Tapatalk for Android

Total Android Look and Feel


Same feature set as iPhone:


Quickly Reply to a conversation:


Latest and Unread Posts indicator and multi-tabs support:


Full screen image support - support landscape mode also




http://www.tapatalk.com

Now that would be cool!

I posted something about this a few weeks back. Any sort of mobile-optimized interface would be wonderful, but the mods are still backed up with the Bonneville->GM updates.

Right, although every mobile interface I've seen for Vb is complete crap. This however would be very useful.

It should also be very easy to integrate. I haven't looked into it, but from what I've heard, it isn't all that difficult.

What no love for Windows Mobile?

I like the technology. I see it as a help with growth and provide members with a cool service. If it doesn't compromise security, create an additional server load, or cause a ripple in our software. I dont have those answers, wouldn't understand or feel I could be confident if explained to me. So. I will pass this to niceguy and let him and his IT evaluate it. Although I run the Forum and have a pretty free reign, this one goes to the owner.

A droid forum I'm on has the software in use. Pretty cool and useful in my opinion.

What i'm hearing from IT. There is no good free service yet that works well in vB, and Tapatalk costs the end user. Not if, but when we provide a Forum cell friendly format. It has to work good with our vB, works on all "net" phones, and not be a paid for service on either end. Or it caters to a few and not in the general forums interest.

I guess the only question that remains to be asked is "when?"

So far, what I've seen that comes built into vB is pretty much garbage. SMF has a decent mobile site, but SMF has other issues.

You don't get something for nothing, and chances are if you own a smartphone which cost you $150 minimum + a monthly data plan, you can afford the $3 for the application to view a forum, if its of interest to you.

I don't think there will ever be a service that is free to both the site and to the end users, unless the vB developers are up to something. Its either going to cost the site owners, or the end users, or it will be fueled by advertisements.

As for catering to a few, I think the iPhone, Android, Nokia, and Blackberry devices encompass a pretty large market share.

Nokia Symbian has 44.3% market share
RIM (Blackberry) has 19.4% market share
iPhone has 15.4% market share
Android has 9.6% market share

That'* a combined 88.7% market share, with Windows Mobile trailing behind at 6.8%.

The only alternative I see to a service like this is something built into vB. Are the developers working on something?

When it is available to all the Big 4, yep.

The owner wants to do this, see'* it'* value. But not something he wants to rush into. He and His IT will be looking at all the alternatives and what vB has in the immediate horizon. Yes, free is never free and Tapatalk just may be the outcome. I fielded it to them and got a favorable response with some concerns they need to look into. All I can really say with certainty.