The mobile Web has a problem. Namely, global mobile Web traffic is growing at a 125 percent compound annual growth rate through 2012, according to Gartner Inc.. But still, only 1 percent of Web sites have capabilities specifically designed for mobile. And that translates into a generally poor wireless Web experience for users, and a big missed opportunity for operators, content owners and advertisers alike.
Sure, those with smartphones and full Web browsers can navigate to any site on the Internet; but limitations within the handsets or within the operating system (i.e., lack of Flash support in the iPhone) can render Web sites that have been created for desktop use pale shadows of themselves when viewed on a wireless device. And, every device has its own specific way of rendering content, so a BlackBerry user might see a regular Web site as having overly large type, while a Droid user might have trouble viewing embedded images. Or, vice versa.
Done correctly, the mobile opportunity itself is large, according to Gartner, which projects mobile ad spending worldwide to grow a full 74 percent this year to $913.5 million. By 2013, the research firm expects mobile ad spending to surpass $13 billion. And mobile advertising is expected to be a big revenue generator for everyone involved, from MNO to content provider.
Smartphone uptake is driving mobile Web usage, which Gartner expects to account for 45.5 percent of all mobile phone sales in 2013 (up from around 9 percent just last year). But Gartner analyst Andrew Frank said the creation of better mobile Web sites will also lift “mobile Web access among non-smartphone users." That’s helped along by feature phones incorporating more smartphone-like features such as QWERTY keyboards and touchscreens.
Taken as a whole, that’s a wide swath of mobile Web users that providers can’t afford to turn off with a stale or frustrating experience. Nonetheless, 67 percent of users confessed to having an unsatisfactory experience in the last 12 months, while 38 percent said they weren’t even sure how to get to a mobile site.
It’s also worth noting that with the advent of things like geolocation and social networking, many, if not most, sites would actually be more contextual and locally relevant on mobile. Ideally the mobile Web will recognize the user’s device, adapt existing content to that specific device, be interactive, be fast and be findable as mobile-ready sites via search engines.
“Users’ expectations are pulled from the desktop world, but they need to engage with a different experience in the mobile world, one that’s more compelling,” said Trey Harvin, CEO at dotMobi. “There are limitations in mobility, so don’t try to just replicate the desktop experience. The gut instinct might be to provide a text-based Web site, almost like a WAP portal. But you also want to transact and interact with the customer.”
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