thinks

Norwegian browser maker Opera has released its monthly Mobile Browsing Report. According to the country snapshots, users (across all countries) most frequently visited the following sites :

• Google
• Yahoo
• Facebook
• Wikipedia
• Gamejump

Ignoring for a moment the lack of iPhone data, mobile users visit search, social networking, research and game sites. How is that different from the PC web? And, is your business showing up when your customers search?

Worth looking into, no?

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A couple weeks back, I managed to lose my right hand, er, my Blackberry Pearl. Suddenly, I lacked access to my email, voice and data applications that I have increasingly taken for granted over the last several years. No email. No texting. No mobile web browsing. No Twitter. Gah.

So, what did I learn?

• Voice remains the killer app. While I didn’t have access to the many mobile web elements I use regularly (GReader and Twitter tops among them), not having a phone while at the grocery store or on the train to keep in touch with family, friends and work was the biggest concern.
• The connectedness of your network (the people kind, not technology) drives your mobile killer app. Because most folks use their phone primarily for voice, it continues to dominate. Email was important, too (not surprising for a Blackberry user, I suppose). And losing both essentially cut me off from the world.
• Mobile broadband access offset the pain. While whipping out my laptop and starting both its mobile broadband connection and Skype is a much bigger pain in the rear than using a phone, it was no less effective. As mobile broadband becomes more common, will multifunction devices (palmtops, tablet PC’s) take some of the function of mobile phones? (Or is it vice versa?)
• My phone also serves as my main address book. And, apparently, I don’t know anyone’s phone number anymore.
• My productivity didn’t change. This surprised me more than anything. Most people - me included - assumed I’d get more done while disconnected. And while I did catch up on some (print) reading, I spent so much time looking for network connections or landlines or phone numbers or email addresses I that I couldn’t get other things done near so quickly or easily as usual. The lack of interruption made it easier to accomplish a single task. But managing the myriad moments of my day suffered massively.

It’s becoming popular to declare the mobile web dead in the water. I disagree. As your network - or your customers’ - starts using their mobile device for data as much as voice, expect that adoption to grow. We’re only just starting to see the birth of innovative mobile apps, be they Slifter, WorldMate or social tools like Facebook and Twitter. Google CEO Eric Schmidt thinks mobile advertising is set to explode. Mobile devices have achieved faster penetration than any prior technology. Give them a little time and they’re likely to change the world. Just like they’ve changed mine.

What’s the longest you’ve had to go without your mobile device? How did you manage? Tell us about it in the comments.

In my price transparency presentation last week, I mentioned how mobile was going to shatter price transparency. (Audio transcript of presentation coming next week).

Amazon now allows customers to buy from their mobile phones, too.

Imagine a customer standing in your store who decides to check your prices against Amazon - or another competitor using something like Slifter. Are you ready to close that sale? Or does your customer buy with their mobile - while standing in your store? Competing on price alone isn’t enough. Can you satisfy your customers needs across the board?

Kudos to Whitney Hess for pointing this out via Twitter this morning and doing a great review of TextBuyIt.

[Full disclosure: I’m an Amazon affiliate, but, so far as I know, Amazon isn’t offering this as an affiliate service currently.]

Do mobile sites meet user needs? When they’re done right. David Armano gives an excellent overview of the Fox News mobile site. At the same time, Canalys provides a comprehensive overview of mobile phone platforms It looks like companies are starting to give thought to what the mobile sites will look like. They’re also thinking about how customers will use it. Are you?

[UPDATE 12/20 07:45AM] FYI, it’s worth checking out this BusinessWeek article for a solid overview of where wireless spectrum is heading, too.

Technorati Tags:
mobile, mobile web, mobile platforms

David Armano thinks 2008 will be the year of the mobile internet. I completely agree. The way consumers interact with the web is changing dramatically, even though most customers don’t realize it themselves. Worse, most businesses don’t either. The mobile web looks like the PC-based web did in 1998-1999, with business and consumer benefits set to explode. Improved devices and networks (iPhone/Android), increased options and flexibility (Verizon’s bring your own device), interesting applications and interactions (Twitter/Pownce/Safari). All very cool.

So how do marketers get onboard?

1. Understand that your customers have mobile devices and are starting to use them
2. Learn what mobile services matter to your customers - primarily search, email, voice
3. Cover the basics - make sure your site can be found, browsed and contacted via mobile. It doesn’t require huge IT investment to make sure your site scans on mobile devices.
4. Explore the fringes - Set up a twitter account and encourage your customers to follow you or offer SMS contacts

This “core and explore” method is the best way to ensure that once your customers go mobile, you can find them, reach them, and help them without driving yourself crazy.

The numbers projected for mobile search - critical to local marketers - are staggering. One estimate projects local companies will spend $5 billion (US) in 2008, while another estimates 55 million local search users by 2011. In either case, the implications are clear for local marketers. Consumers are making use of this technology to find what they need, regardless of device or location. When you consider the low conversion rates for most websites, despite years of best practice research, companies need to think both about their customers who will purchase online and those that won’t. How effective is your business at driving sales online and offline? And how much are you thinking about it?