Mobile Awesomeness Blog

Install Google Analytics on your Mobile Site: Step by Step

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:04:20 -0500

Google recently announced much better support in Analytics for tracking mobile websites. Here is a step-by-step tutorial on how to install it.

Admob Metrics Report: September, 2009

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:20:02 -0500

September saw more than 10.2 billion requests on the AdMob network. They also released a good article about how to put their statistics in context.

Top 5 Countries

   1. United States (47.3%, 0.8%)
   2. India (6.5%, 0.3%)
   3. Indonesia (4.7%, -0.8%)
   4. United Kingdom (3.4%, -0.7%)
   5. Philippines (3.1%, -0.7%)

Top 5 Worldwide Handsets

   1. Apple iPhone (16.9%, 0.3%)
   2. Apple iPod Touch (8.4%, -1.7%)
   3. HTC Dream (2.8%, 0.7%)
   4. Samsung R450 (2.5%, -0.3%)
   5. Palm Pre (2.0%, 0.5%)

Top 5 US Handsets

   1. Apple iPhone (18.9%, -0.8%)
   2. Apple iPod Touch (9.2%, -4.2%)
   3. HTC Dream (5.5%, 1.6%)
   4. Samsung R450 (5.3%, -0.7%)
   5. Palm Pre (4.1%, 1.0%)

Download the full report here: http://metrics.admob.com/2009/10/september-2009-mobile-metrics-report/

Google Analytics Improves Mobile Support

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:00:58 -0500

Developers can now enable advanced Google Analytics stats for their mobile websites AND applications by downloading and installing a small snippet of code.

Read the full article.

Fun with Wapple

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:51:42 -0400

Wapple is another premier mobile framework at the disposal of web developers these days. The great thing about frameworks is that you can be sure your mobile site works across thousands of devices, and device detection should be spot on. It's a great way to go if you are limited on time, budget or desire to do extensive mobile device/browser testing.

Wapple offers three public business packages, ranging from roughly $150 USD/month to roughly $1,400 USD/month. Free trials are available, and for developers they have a program that gives unlimited access to their API for free. So it's definitely on the high end of the price spectrum, but they have some serious technology to backup the price.

The 3 Wapple products are slightly confusing at first, because all of them are included with any package. Canvas is a GUI, which allows creation of a mobile website using simple drag-and-drop tools. Coders wanting control of their own HTML/CSS won't be disappointed either.

The other two products, Architect and Exhibit are what separates Wapple from other mobile frameworks. Architect allows developers to mobilize their current website or application using Wapple's proprietary, XML-based language, called WAPL.

The beauty of using WAPL markup is when it calls on the other product, Exhibit. Exhibit profiles the device by handset, hardware/firmware, browser, carrier and more to deliver your website content in a form that is truly optimized for the device, whether the output is WML, CHTML, XHTML or HTML. You create ONE site, and Exhibit optimizes it for every available device with the most advanced profiling available. It eliminates the need for extensive testing across various mobile handsets and browsers.

While Wapple is more expensive than it's counterparts Mobify and MoFuse, their advanced tools give developers great control over the user experience, with minimal time invested. I'd like to see SSL security available as an option for all accounts, and MANY more page impressions included with an account. Paying $150/month for only 500 page views per day won't cut it for most websites or applications. All that aside, it is a really well-done platform that is certainly worth a look.

Admob Metrics Report: May, 2009

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:38:17 -0400

Here are some highlights from the most recent AdMob metrics report, released a couple of weeks ago:

Apple continues their market domination. Market share for the iPhone and iPod touch increased 5.7% and 4.7% respectively in the U.S. and 3.4% and 1.8% worldwide. This represents the largest increase of any of the devices in the study.
The HTC Dream (aka G1) passes the Motorola Z6M to become the fifth most popular handset in the United States Market. The G1's market share increased by 0.3% while the Motorola Z6M dropped 0.5%.
G1, Apple, and Nokia were the only manufacturers to see increases in the their worldwide market share.

The following stats are based on 7,997,946,483 requests:

Top 5 Countries

   1. United States (47.6%, +0.6%)
   2. Indonesia (8.8%, -2.0%)
   3. India (5.9%, 0.0%)
   4. Philippines (3.8%, -0.2%)
   5. United Kingdom (3.5%, +0.2%)

Top 5 Worldwide Handsets

   1. Apple iPhone (18.6%, +3.4%)
   2. Apple iPod Touch (12.8%, +1.8%)
   3. Samsung R450 (2.2%, -0.3%)
   4. Motorola RAZR V3 (1.9%, -0.4%)
   5. Nokia N70 (1.9%, -0.1%)

Top 5 US Handsets

   1. Apple iPhone (25.7%, +5.7%)
   2. Apple iPod Touch (19.4%, +4.7%)
   3. Samsung R450 (4.5%, -0.6%)
   4. Motorola RAZR V3 (3.4%, -0.9%)
   5. HTC Dream (2.6%, +0.3)

Download the full report here: http://www.admob.com/s/solutions/metrics

Admob Metrics Report: April, 2009

Fri, 29 May 2009 12:54:26 -0400

Here are some highlights from the most recent AdMob metrics report, released a couple of weeks ago:

This month's summary is short and sweet: the iPhone OS (includes iPod Touch) continues to dominate the AdMob network as far as market share goes. It accounts for 65% of all HTML site requests, and 43% of mobile website requests. Android is creeping in at 9% (HTML) and 3% (mobile) respectively, and Symbian represents 7% (HTML) and 36% (mobile). Optimize for these devices first, and you are likely covering the majority.
RIM's market share continues to decline each month. The manufacturer now only has a 3% worldwide market share, 5.6% in the US and only has 2 phones in the top 20.

The following stats are based on 7,535,272,901 requests:

Top 5 Countries

United States (47%, -0.5%)
Indonesia (10.8%, +1.6%)
India (5.9%, -1.7%)
Philippines (4.0%, +0.1%)
United Kingdom (3.4%, +0.5%)

Top 5 Worldwide Handsets

Apple iPhone (15.1%, +1.9%)
Apple iPod Touch (11%, +2.2%)
Samsung R450 (2.4%, +0.5%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (2.3%, -0.4%)
Nokia N70 (2.0%, -0.1%)

Top 5 US Handsets

Apple iPhone (20.0%, +3.0%)
Apple iPod Touch (14.8%, +2.6%)
Samsung R450 (5.2%, +1%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (4.4%, -0.7%)
Motorola Z6M (2.7%, -0.3)

Download the full report here: http://www.admob.com/s/solutions/metrics

Mobify: Flexible and Robust

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:49:26 -0400

Mobify is another fantastic platform available to website creators that does most of the heavy lifting if you want a quality mobile experience for your users. Thanks to mobile platforms like this one (others listed here), gone are the days when you have to hire a mobile expert or web developer to have a mobile site that works across various platforms.

What differentiates it from platforms like MoFuse (reviewed last week) is flexibility with regards to the design and layout. Although Mobify is hosted, it gives you complete control over the mobile stylesheets. Combine the style control with an extremely helpful interface that makes it painfully simple to select what elements you want as part of the mobile site, and you can see why major websites are taking notice and using this platform. Among them are A List Apart, McDonald's and Spin Magazine, among others.

Like most other players in this space, they have a basic free account, and I believe monthly pricing as well. I would expand on the pricing, but it was surprisingly nowhere available on the website. For an introduction to the platform, check out this video:

View more screencasts here.

MoFuse: Mobile Platform with a Beautiful UI

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 10:49:33 -0400

MoFuse is a mobile platform that pretty much anyone can use to create a mobile version of their website. Actually, it took about 15 minutes to create one for our site until we have the opportunity to do it up right. They have a really nice dashboard where you can setup design details, add pages, view analytics and more. Blogs with up to 2 feeds/pages are free, and their premium subscription ranges from $39/month to $199/month.

If you want unlimited control and customizations for your mobile site, this is not the platform for you. However, if you want something simple, easy to create and instantly compatible with 4,500+ devices, MoFuse is for you. For more, check out the tour, or create a free site here.

Admob Metrics Report: March, 2009

Tue, 12 May 2009 15:36:59 -0400

Here are some highlights from the most recent AdMob metrics report, released a couple of weeks ago:

The story in March is Android. The HTC Dream (aka G1), while still the 10th most popular device (4th in smartphones), is showing impressive growth of 47% on average between November '08 and March '09. With more Android handsets on schedule for release in 2009, it could be a huge year for Google's infant OS.
With an increase of 17% over February, requests continue stellar growth. However, a higher percentage than ever are coming from mobile applications, rather than websites.
Requests from the US increased nearly 4%, while all other top countries decreased or had minimal gains in March.
Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch continue stellar growth in the worldwide handset market, each increasing market share 2.1%, while all other handsets had minimal gains/losses +/- 1%.
Samsung took over the #2 spot in the US for most requests at 17.6%, formerly held by Motorola, who saw a decrease of 1.6% to 16.8%.

The following stats are based on 7,654,044,490 requests:

Top 5 Countries

United States (47.5%, +3.9%)
Indonesia (9.2%, -5.1%)
India (7.6%, +0.2%)
Philippines (3.9%, 0%)
United Kingdom (2.9%, 0%)

Top 5 Worldwide Handsets

Apple iPhone (13.3%, +2.1%)
Apple iPod Touch (8.8%, +2.1%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (2.7%, -0.2%)
Nokia N70 (2.1%, -0.3%)
Samsung R450 (2.0%, +0.7%)

Top 5 US Handsets

Apple iPhone (17.0%, +0.6%)
Apple iPod Touch (12.1%, +1.5%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (5.0%, -0.8%)
Samsung R450 (4.2%, 1.2%)
Blackberry 8300 (Curve) (3.3%, +0.2%)

Download the full report here: http://www.admob.com/s/solutions/metrics

Admob Metrics Report: February, 2009

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 18:50:01 -0400

Here are some highlights from the most recent AdMob metrics report, released a couple of weeks ago:

February is a short month, but we were still a little surprised that wordwide requests actually went down for the first time since we had started following these reports, to 6.6 billion
Smartphone operating systems were featured this month, and the only two that have actually increased market share over the last six months is the iPhone and Android. The iPhone has a 40% US share, and 29% worldwide share, while Android is up to 5% in the US after only three months.
The Blackberry Curve and Pearl are still RIM's mainstay handsets, accounting for 77.4% of their market share.
Worldwide, the Symbian OS (Nokia) still accounts for 43% of worldwide traffic, the iPhone is up to 33% and RIM comes in at 10%.
The Philippines made a huge jump in requests, hurdling the UK to become 4th largest in the world.

The following stats are based on 6,555,217,223 requests:

Top 5 Countries

United States (43.6%, +0.2%)
Indonesia (14.4%, -1.9%)
India (7.5%, +0.8%)
Philippines (3.9%, +1.1%)
United Kingdom (2.8%, -0.9%)

Top 5 Worldwide Handsets

Apple iPhone (11.2%, +0.2%)
Apple iPod Touch (6.7%, -0.7%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (2.9%, -0.1%)
Nokia N70 (2.4%, -0.1%)
Nokia 3110c (1.6%, +0.2%)

Top 5 US Handsets

Apple iPhone (16.4%, -0.4%)
Apple iPod Touch (10.6%, -1.7%)
Motorola RAZR V3 (5.9%, 0%)
Motorola Z6m (3.5%, 0%)
Blackberry 8300 (Curve) (3.0%, +0.2%)

Download the full report here: http://www.admob.com/s/solutions/metrics