I have never been a serious cell phone enthusiast but I am beginning to love smart phones.
On a recent trip to drop my daughter off at the University of Texas, I was able to scout out the beautiful city of Austin with my IPhone Maps application. Not only could I get directions from one address to another, I could see how long it would take me to walk, drive or bus it. The app even showed me the number of the bus I needed to take!
Smartphones provide an amazing user experience whether you are using IPhone apps, Blackberry Apps or any other web enabled device application.
It’s No Wonder that Gartner Expects Smartphones:
to account for 45.5% of all mobile phone sales in 2013, up from just over 9% in 2008. The embrace of smartphones — especially the iPhone — coupled with a rise in flat-rate data plan pricing, signals that a fundamental change is underway in how consumers interact with high-end devices.
Smartphones are expected to drive mobile internet subscription growth to 134.3 million in the US by 2013 according to eMarketer.
The adoption of Smartphones is forcing web publishers to provide a better user experience by developing user friendly websites for consumers and in turn, better user experience is driving more consumers to purchase smartphones.
Businesses Need to Develop Mobile Advertising Strategies
eMarketer predicts that mobile advertising in the US will hit $1.56 billion by 2013.
Is Your Website Ready for the Mobile Internet?
Building Applications
Fandango is an online service that allows consumers to purchase movie tickets in advance. They realized that many movie goers prefer to purchase tickets closer to show time and when they don’t have access to their PCs. They developed their own application for the IPhone so consumers could purchase tickets whenever and wherever they are. The app has been downloaded 2.5 million times since its inception in March 2009.
Here are a few tips regarding building an application for mobile enabled devices from Ted Hong from Fandango as told to WebProNews
- Have a clear purpose for developing the app
- Be prepared to support it properly
- Make sure measuring capability in place
- Build awareness of the app
Nationwide Insurance developed their own app that can :
- GPS locate you in case of an accident
- Call 911
- Submit a claim form, including photos
- Direct you to the appropriate auto shop
and it is not exclusive to Nationwide, it will email your claim to your own insurance company!
Portable Websites
The growing popularity of web enabled devices; smartphones, GPS systems, cameras and mp3 players is forcing companies to develop portable websites that are “device independant”. Cindy Krum of RankMobile makes the point that mobile algorithms will get smarter at recognizing the device that you are searching from and personalize the results.
Web designers will have to anticipate a broader range of devices, with each device carrying a specific demographic.
Our Take on Mobile Search
We are still a year or two away from driving serious traffic to your website through web enabled devices. The issue as always is that when traffic does start to come, you ‘d better be ready or you will be left behind. Turning your current website into a mobile friendly site is not an difficult task.