Hot off the presses, LinkedIn has released both a new mobile web app based on HTML5 and new native apps for iPhone and Android. At first glance, they seem to have gotten it right.
The new apps forego long lists of menu options to focus on the for most likely to be used sections: Updates, You, Inbox, and Network. Each of these four areas opens into more complete sections to unlock the power of your network on the go.
They have also added some new features. Key among them is the ability to access your LinkedIn Groups directly from the apps. This is a nice addition, and one that LinkedIn claims was the most requested feature.
Overall, I’d categorize this as a major step in the right direction and, I believe, offers a glimpse into the way mobile needs to be approached. You can’t expect to put your entire online experience into an app. Instead, you need to focus on the most important elements and then make them work as perfectly as possible. I expect we’ll see some additional tweaks of the the new LinkedIn apps, but they’ve made tremendous strides with this new version.
Related articles
- Three Reasons You Should Get the New LinkedIn App (pcworld.com)
- LinkedIn Revamps Its Mobile Apps for Speed, Simplicity & Groups (mashable.com)
- LinkedIn Revamps iPhone, Android Apps, Launches HTML5 App (forbes.com)
