Mobile Riding High

Samsung has been riding high on the success of the 5.3 inch screen Galaxy Note, the first successful phablet to hit the market. Selling a reported 5 million devices since its release, it is something that will surely be followed up by Samsung and others.

Ever since Apple released the first iPhone, all other device makers have been struggling to find a physical feature that really differentiates them from the iPhone. Apple is now behind on this trend, somewhere they have not been since the iPhone was first released. The high-end smartphone decided that bigger is in fact better. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC One X, Motorola Droid Razr and Lumia 900 all boast screen sizes well above the 4 inch size, leaving the iPhones 3.5 inch screen begging for more.

Mobile is going to be huge

OK, so we know that mobile websites are huge and are only going to grow in ubiquity from here on out. That means they'll be available with lots of different features. 

But just like web pages, so much of the success of a mobile website comes down to great design. Not graphic design, per se, but the user interface (UI) and how easy and intuitive it is for people to use the site. 

With that in mind, here are a few things to think about when you're designing a mobile website. 

1. Think On the Go. 
Remember that people are using mobiles when they're on the go, so there's no need to cram every last detail about the company on there. Save that for your website. Keep it convenient and simple and tell them only what they need to know about your business. 

2. Placement Matters. 
People use their thumbs and fingers on mobile devices. Give your buttons some space between each other so users can press the right ones the first time. And keep in mind the way users hold their devices and place buttons accordingly. 

3. Work Within Size Restrains. 
Mobile devices have small screens and various download speeds. Not everyone's eyesight is perfect and you can never be sure what coverage will be like. So plan and design accordingly so that users can see the information they want as fast as they want to see it. 

These are just 3 of the many things you need to consider when designing a mobile website. There are plenty more to think about once you get going. 

Hope you'll look forward to the next post from me where I'll talk about the different ways that businesses can use mobile websites to connect with customers.

The mobile movement...

The mobile movement...

OUR NEW CUSTOMER PROMISE ( 0844 414 8103 )

If you already have a mobile-friendly website, give yourself a big pat on the back — you’re an early adopter. You’re leading the way in the mobile movement, and you’re showing your customers (and potential customers) that you'r ahead of the pack. You understand that they’re constantly on their smartphones; and you appreciate that they want a great mobile experience.

We at M.A.D will guarantee our customers a Mobile site to be proud of or you wont have to pay a penny.  

It’s hard to believe that, only a year ago, any discussion around mobile was focused nearly 100% on apps. Apps were exciting and fun to play with. We had Angry Birds and the latest release of Facebook. But over the course of the year, a very subtle but noticeable thing started to happen. While all of us iPhone and Android users continued to download and play with mobile apps, we started to spend A LOT more time browsing good old fashion websites on our phones. And industry analysts started paying attention. And they started analysing this behavior of ours. And they came up with some interesting findings.

They told us things like “by 2015, more people will browse the internet on their phones then they will from their desktop computers (IDC, 2011)”. Or that “95% of consumers use their smartphones to search for whatever they may need” (Google, 2012). And as anyone who has ever spent time browsing websites not designed for mobile phones can tell you – myself included – the experience is awful, and becoming quite unforgivable.

The analysts looked at this too – given that they own smartphones themselves and share in our experience. What they found is that “nearly 2 out of 3 users are unlikely to return to a mobile site that they had trouble with. And a good 40% of us would visit a competitors site instead” (Compuware Inc., March 2010).

Now being a startup, focused on enabling businesses to create mobile-friendly websites, drawing attention to the importance of the “mobile web”, backed by data and statistical analysis, was good for us. Finally we have some good solid data that speaks to the necessity of a mobile website. And by last year, the shift toward the mobile web picked up steam. We launched MobileAppsDirect, an online initiative designed to educate businesses about the importance of having a mobile website – by November, the conversation in the press switched from “apps vs. the mobile web” to “every business needs a mobile website.” And while this shift has occurred, the number of businesses grew just as rapidly, with MobileAppsDirect about to convert a huge number of UK businesses mobile websites sometime over the next few months.

Kevin Ryan

MobileAppsDirect