Happy Friday, everyone! Our theme for this week’s Mobile Roundup is the future of mobile. Read on to find out what we’re excited to see in the months and years ahead.

Monday, May 13

AT&T exec: Analytics will move mobile spend forward by Lauren Johnson for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“…what it’s really going to take going forward to increase that spend is the analytics piece, so it’s really about how do we prove the ROI of the platform, how do we prove that it drives sales and that it drives traffic and other behavior like that.”

Julia Plourde, an AT&T executive, offers that for mobile budgets to increase, analytics must be better leveraged to demonstrate the ROI of the mobile medium. While AT&T has incorporated smartphones and tablets into its marketing strategy, the company continues to struggle to determine the impact of mobile campaigns and initiatives. With that in mind, a trend toward analytics is highly likely.

Tuesday, May 14

Mobile marketing to approach $20B by 2015 by Sandra Zoratti for BtoB

Quotable
“Mobile marketing communications expenditures in the U.S. totaled approximately $6.70 billion last year and are projected to reach $19.80 billion by 2015, according to a Mobile Marketing Association study.”

According to a recent report from the Mobile Marketing Association, spending on mobile advertising, mobile direct response and mobile CRM is expected to soar by 2015. Mobile advertising is expected to generate the most spending power, followed by mobile CRM and mobile direct response. Three cheers for mobile marketing!

Wednesday, May 15

Apps, HTML5 and m-commerce among key mobile challenges facing businesses: report by David Moth for eConsultancy

Quotable
“The overriding message from this year’s Digital Cream is that a viable mobile strategy is not rocket science, but it does require a brand to have visibility into the customer experience, a sensitive, flexible approach and clear business objectives.”

eConsultancy’s Digital Cream London event kicked off last month, prompting conversations on the state and future of digital marketing. While ecommerce businesses reported favorable traffic to their mobile sites, a lack of mobile site optimization and the complexity of the m-commerce journey have proven to cause drop-outs and subsequent revenue loss. Retailers have also noted the unpleasant trend of ‘showrooming’, when customers look at products in-store, check prices, and then leave to make the purchases elsewhere. Will this frustrating trend continue in the future?

Thursday, May 16

iOS Gains On Android by Mark Walsh for MediaPost

Quotable
“Android accounted for more than half (52%) of impressions on the Millennial Media mobile ad network in the first quarter, with iOS claiming 39%. That marks a six-percentage-point gain for iOS from a year ago, narrowing Android’s lead as the leading mobile platform on the network.”

Millennial Media recently found that iOS is moving on up in the mobile platform world, jumping from 33 percent of impressions on their mobile ad network to 39 percent only a year later. What does this mean for Android? Probably nothing of concern. Of the total tablet impressions on the Millennial Media platform, 45 percent were from Android tablets, leaping 96 percent from the same quarter a year ago. It appears that both iOS and Android will continue to go head to head in the mobile race.

Friday, May 17

Mobile web content drives in-store purchases, Google suggests for Brafton

Quotable
“New data from Google suggests that consumers not only turn to the mobile web for content discovery, but also for affirmation on what to buy while in select stores.”

According to a recent report from Google, 84 percent of smartphone shoppers use their devices to guide their in-store shopping experiences. Report data also suggests that most in-store mobile activities begin with search, which 82 percent of mobile shoppers use to influence their purchasing decisions. With this in mind, it’s evident that marketers must create web content for mobile search to best engage with their customers.

That wraps up this week in mobile! Have a fantastic weekend, and be sure to share your thoughts on any of these articles in the comments section below.

Responsive web design (RWD) is a hot topic in the world of web design and development, and for good reason. With new web-connected devices being introduced into the market every month, continuously changing the game for web marketers, it’s clear that responsive design and responsive practices are where web development is headed. No other methods have shown as much promise at solving these cross-device web issues, and so far, the leaders at the forefront of RWD are interactive agencies, in-house teams of advanced CSS and HTML coders, and a handful of influential responsive pioneers.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Mike Norman, VP of Technology at Genuine Interactive about the current state of responsive web design (RWD), where this approach is headed, and the role it plays in enabling any-screen marketing. During this conversation, Mike shared some really great insights on the merits of RWD that I thought I’d share with you.

Here are the 3 biggest takeaways from my conversation with Mike:

Takeaway #1: Responsive Design is the future

You don’t necessarily need to speak with a VP of Technology to know that responsive design is the future, but it is important to understand. This isn’t to say that all websites will be responsive in the next two to three years, but per my conversation with Mike, it’s pretty clear that RWD has become the “gold standard” of web design. Despite the fact that it takes a big upfront investment of time and resources, RWD is one of the only proven ways to accommodate for all the different devices accessing your website through one build and to ensure that all of your content is accessible across all of these devices in a relatively easy-to-use format. This is currently one of the biggest challenges for web marketers; making sure there is a positive web experience for visitors across all of the different devices. Thus, for those who have the budget and those ready for a full site redesign, RWD has primarily become the go-to web strategy.

Responsive design is also the best way to future-proof your website for any new devices that hit the market (at least for now). As screen sizes change and devices start to merge, RWD offers an ideal solution because of its flexibility and fluidity to fit any screen. As Mike points out, “you have no idea what devices will come out in a year or two…a year or two, in our field, is a lifetime.” According to Mike, building device-specific websites may lead to constant redesigns and time-consuming maintenance to ensure that your website provides a good user experience on all devices. RWD, on the other hand, dynamically adjusts to fit new devices, no matter what the screen size is.

Takeaway #2: Current Responsive Design has its downfalls

In my conversation with Mike, I asked him to address the current state of RWD in general. While Responsive Design is the future of web design, there are a number of limitations. For the most part, current responsive design consists of a number of different page elements (text, images, navigation etc.) combined with a number of different browser size breakpoints, which dictate how the text, images and navigation will render on that screen size. In other words, the elements on the page dynamically adjust based on the size of the browser. However, there are fundamental issues with this approach. One of these issues, as Mike pointed out, is delivering the same sized images to all device users. “You can’t just do pure front-end responsive. On some level you have to incorporate the backend to determine what image should be put out there. If you’re sending down a 1.5 MB image to a smartphone user, not only are you going to drastically increase load times, but you’ll also kill their data plan.”

Another drawback to current responsive design is that design capabilities are limited for fully responsive sites. Mike shared a few responsive websites that really exemplify this, two in particular being Starbucks and Microsoft. Both of these sites are completely custom, responsive websites, and both have a very similar design style (or lack thereof). These sites are very “boxy” and there’s a lot of empty/wasted white space, especially when viewed on a desktop computer. Coding practices have a come a long way with responsive design, but there are still some limitations when it comes to having complete creative freedom from a design perspective.

Mike also pointed out that RWD isn’t well suited for companies with highly action-oriented websites. “There are some people whose sites are action-oriented, so there are particular paths they want a user to take and some of the content on the site is secondary. For those clients, responsive doesn’t matter as much.” These clients typically want a specific mobile experience that is targeted for the mobile user, allowing them to easily optimize content, calls-to-action and user flows for a mobile visitor, without having to mess with site-wide CSS. If their site was responsive, they’d need to involve their IT dept or agency just to swap out a quick call-to-action. For example, downloading a white paper may be very interesting for a desktop user, but a mobile user would most likely be more interested in signing up for your email newsletter. “You can’t argue the action-oriented approach,” Mike says. “Sometimes that’s what your business dictates.” In such cases, traditional RWD falls short.

I will add that one solution to RWD’s limitations, which is gaining steam in the responsive community as a better approach — building on the inherent strengths of RWD, is server-side responsive, also known as RESS. In this approach, the server detects the device before loading the website and will deliver a web experience and appropriate image sizes optimized to that specific device, rather than just re-arranging the same elements according to the browser size.

Takeaway #3: Responsive Web Design is a constant evolution

Given the first two takeaways, this may seem like an obvious conclusion, but it is important to understand how RWD is changing. One of the biggest challenges currently with responsive design is, as Mike put it, that it’s a real disruption to process. “In traditional web design, the roles are clear. It’s ‘you do UX’, ‘you do design’, ‘you do development’. With responsive web design, it’s not like once you’re done with UX, you’re done with it…there’s a lot more back and forth. In the past year alone the process has changed dramatically.” RWD involves a much more integrated and continuous effort from the development and design teams, not just a simple division of duties. Because it’s such a disruption to that process, agencies and coding teams are still figuring out the most efficient way to develop responsive sites.

The other thing to understand about RWD is that it’s not black and white. Yes, some websites can dynamically change when you adjust the browser size, and some can’t. But a website is not necessarily either responsive or not. There are many design practices that are responsive by nature but can be applied to more traditional web design (e.g. swapping out images for CSS). The opposite is true as well. There are web design practices that are not typically used in RWD (javascript device detection) but that can be used in a way to make the website load differently based on the size of the browser accessing it. There are even different approaches to responsive design. The capabilities and applications of responsive design are constantly changing, which means its definition is continuously evolving.

The last factor I’d like to mention, and perhaps the most important, that drives the continuous change of RWD (and all web design for that matter) is how we as humans are behaving on the web. Our web-based interactions and data consumption methods are the driving force behind web evolution. What happens when Google Glass is released to the public, or if Apple’s rumored iWatch hits the market? How will responsive sites render on those devices? How will users interact with those sites? How will voice commands change the way we navigate and communicate on the web? What if screens become flexible? It’s nearly impossible to answer these kinds of questions because it’s nearly impossible to predict future technologies. One certain truth: whatever these trends are, they will be sure to affect how the web is consumed and developed.

Conclusion

As responsive web design continues to grow in popularity, it’s clear that it will have a strong foothold in the future of web development. Due to its fluid and adaptable nature, it has emerged as the ideal choice for most web developers and marketers who are concerned about how their site looks and behaves across all devices. However, there are still many areas in which RWD can be improved, specifically when it comes to optimizing images, content and calls-to-action. Although it’s difficult to predict precisely how the use of the web will evolve in the future, it will be very interesting to see what kinds of technologies and coding practices emerge from its continuous evolution.

Where do you see responsive design headed in the future? Let us know in the comments section.

With the onset of summer comes a flurry of exciting mobile announcements, so we’re dedicating today’s edition of This Week in Mobile to smartphone rumors! If you’ve been paying close attention to the tech blogs, many of this may already be old news; for those of you just tuning in, get ready for a glimpse into this year’s upcoming tech!

Mozilla’s Firefox OS

The revolutionary Firefox OS from Mozilla, which is entirely built to run HTML5 web apps, probably won’t start shipping in the US until 2014 – but that won’t stop developers from trying to get their hands on a Geeksphone (the only phone that runs Firefox OS, currently available in Spain). Mozilla’s “Principle Developer Evangelist”, Christian Heilmann, notes that developers should work on making their web apps look great before the company starts shipping phones to consumers.

If you’re a developer who’s too impatient to wait for your Geeksphone to arrive, you can start playing around with the Firefox OS Simulator 3.0, which features the ability to push in-progress web apps to connected test devices for some hands-on QA. Other exciting features include testing HTML5 animations (like rotating displays) and the ability to test location-aware web apps that can access a phone’s internal GPS. It looks like Mozilla is doing some really exciting things with HTML5, and we can’t wait to see the consumer reaction to these new smartphones!

“Mozilla doesn’t want you buying a Firefox OS phone just yet” via Geek.com
“With A Widespread Launch Looming, Mozilla Rolls Out Fireox OS Simulator 3.0″ via TechCrunch

Android and Motorola’s “X Phone”

The very name “X Phone” practically oozes technological cool, so it’s no surprise there are a lot of expectations riding on this “magical unicorn” of a phone. Ever since Google bought Motorola Mobility, rumors have been swirling about a phone that knows you even better than you know yourself – even down to predicting when you’ll want certain apps to appear on the screen. This phone may even be ready to pair with the as-yet-unavailable Google Glass! Perhaps an even more exciting rumor is that this phone could be heavily subsidized and offered at a much lower price than expected (perhaps to compete with the possible low-end iPhone?).

Google I/O is just around the corner on May 15-17, so expect more details to emerge during the conference. Perhaps we may even get a sneak peak at this mysterious X Phone.

“Should you wait for the mythical Motorola X Phone?” via CNET
“Motorola X Phone rumors, benchmarks march on” via CNET

Apple’s iOS 7

Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) is taking place June 10-14 this summer, with a rumored unveiling of the new iOS 7 and its completely redesigned user interface. Gone will be the “skeuomorphic” aesthetic (a digital representation of a physical texture or design – like the iPhone’s leather-bound notepad, for example), and in its place will be a flat, minimalist, and modern OS.

Perhaps in an effort to keep up with the new 2D tile designs of Google Now and Microsoft 8, Apple’s UI guru, Jonathan Ive, is giving iOS its first major reworking since the release of the original iPhone back in 2007. Expect to see a preview of iOS 7 at WWDC in June, along with an announcement regarding iPhone integration with vehicles (we’re curious to see how the latter plays out).

“Apple Engineers Working Overtime on iOS7′s ‘DeForstallization’” via MacRumors
“iOS 7 Rumors Point to Redesigned Interface, Vehicle Integration” via PCMag

Which smartphone rumors are you most excited to see confirmed? Are there any that we missed? Sound off in the comments thread and spread the news!

To our customers, investors, and friends, today is a really exciting day at Bluetrain Mobile and I have several announcements to share:

 1. Expansion to Tablets!

This morning, Bluetrain Mobile released support for tablets. We now enable marketers to design and build brilliant and engaging websites for smartphone AND tablet audiences. The first phase of this rollout is compatible with all major smartphones and tablets, with the exception of the full-size iPad. The fastest area of growth in the tablet market is from the iPad mini and a wide array of Android and Kindle tablet devices, and Bluetrain Mobile will support them all.

2. Expanded Vision for Web Marketing on Any Screen

We believe that the future of consumer marketing is mobile and multi-screen. Our expansion to tablet is part of an ambitious 2013 R&D plan that will culminate with Bluetrain Mobile supporting any screen, including smartphones, tablets, and desktops. Our goal is to enable marketers and their agencies to create brilliant and compelling multi-screen experiences resulting in measurable visitor engagement and action.

3. The Future of Responsive Web Design

Also in our press release today, we’re announcing our vision to build the world’s most advanced responsive website platform. Designed for data-driven consumer marketers and their agencies, who must continually optimize lead generation on smartphone, tablet, and desktop devices, our responsive server side (RESS) platform puts the intelligence of responsive design directly in the marketer’s hands. In the video above, I share details of our approach to building websites for any screen, and why we think this represents the next generation of responsive web design.

4. Announcing $1.53 million in New Funding

We are very pleased to announce $1.53 million in new funding with the strong backing of top-notch investors and VCs, including Polaris Partners, Atlas Venture, Boston Seed Capital, and LaunchCapital.

5. Nina McIntyre Joins Bluetrain Mobile as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer

I am delighted to welcome Nina McIntyre to Bluetrain Mobile. Nina will join us as Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, and will also serve on the board of directors at Bluetrain Mobile. Nina and I met a few years ago when she was CMO at ATG, and a key member of the executive team. Nina helped define ATG’s “Commerce Anywhere” strategy across desktop, mobile, social, and in-store e-commerce channels, culminating in the acquisition of ATG by Oracle. She is an exceptional software marketing executive with a track record of growing successful software businesses, with a career that began in product management, and a solid business foundation beginning with an MBA from MIT’s Sloan School of Management.

6. Free Trial

This morning, we also launched a 30-day Free Trial of our platform, enabling anyone to sign up to experience why over 45 customers maintain over 55 sites on our platform. Now you can create a compelling website that deepens engagement, generates leads and revenue for your business, and enables you to compete in an increasingly multi-screen world.

It’s shaping up to be an exciting year on the Bluetrain. Stay tuned and reserve your seat!

I know we’re in the business of helping marketers build brilliant mobile websites, but you can’t surf the mobile web without the right hardware! Our theme for this week’s mobile roundup is indisputably The Smartphone, from its glorious history to what’s happening in the world of handsets today.

Monday, April 8

How Small Businesses Can Optimize Social Content for Mobile Customers by Lisa Wirthman for Forbes

Quotable
“…sites that aren’t optimized for mobile can quickly lose customers. Some 61% of mobile users said they’d move to another site if they didn’t find what they were looking for right away. Worse, just one bad mobile experience can damage your brand. Half of mobile users said if a site didn’t work well on their smartphones, they felt the company didn’t care about their business.”

This article from Forbes offers some basic (but still useful!) advice to marketers who are building a mobile marketing strategy anchored with a mobile site. Recommendations include prioritizing mobile-optimized calls to action, keeping the site lightweight to achieve faster load times, and keeping forms brief to cut down on clumsy smartphone keyboards.

Tuesday, April 9

1.4 Billion HTML5-Capable Mobile Devices in 2013, But Developer Uptake Requires Strong OS, Chipset Integration, Says ABI Research from BusinessWire

Quotable
“Mobile devices with HTML5-compatible browsers will total 1.4 billion at end-2013, following an annual increase of 87%, according to new forecasts from ABI Research.”

As HTML5 becomes more ubiquitous, this forecast from ABI research predicts that the technology will eventually become even more tightly integrated with smartphone hardware in the year to come. Researchers point to the growth of open-source platforms, like Firefox OS, Sailfish, and Ubuntu, as the first in a wave of HTML5 browsers baked right into the underlying OS (with Android and Chrome not far behind).

Wednesday, April 10

Infographic: Tracking The Evolution of the Mobile Phone by Michael for Mobile Marketing Watch

Quotable
“Four decades ago, a man named Martin Cooper – a vice president at Motorola – ‘stepped onto a New York City sidewalk and made the first known cellphone call in history.’”

Who doesn’t love a great origin story? (In infographic form, no less!) Last week was the 40th birthday of your favorite technological innovation, so Column Five and Mashable joined forces to bring you the story of the cellphone – from Gordon Gekko’s ’83 Dynatac (estimated battery life: 30 min) to today’s newest touch-enabled devices, this infographic tells the whole story. (Looking for an even more in-depth look at the history of mobile? Check out the Timeline on our Facebook Page!).

Thursday, April 11

BackBerry Tops iPhone and Android…In a “Don’t Want” Poll by John Paczkowski for AllThingsD

Quotable
“Of the consumers Raymond Jame surveyed, 20 percent said they would never buy an iPhone, 31 percent said they’d never buy an Android phone, and 71 percent said they’d never purchase a BlackBerry.”

In a twist on your typical consumer survey, research house Raymond James asked participants which phone they would never purchase and… you guessed it, BlackBerry lost. Other questions on this survey included what features a particular manufacturer would need to include to make participants more likely to reach for their wallets, but 71.4% of users said that absolutely nothing would get them to buy a BlackBerry. Ouch.

Friday, April 12

R/GA exec: Web is last untapped portion of mobile by Lauren Johnson for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“‘There are a lot of great applications out there, and a lot of great mobile ads as well, but I think there is this one space in mobile that is a little untapped, and I think things are happening in the mobile browser are pretty exciting to me,’ said Richard Ting, executive vice president and global executive creative director of mobile and social platforms at R/GA, New York.”

Rounding out our discussion on smartphones and HTML5, the bigwigs at R/GA say that consumers should expect a lot more from brands on the mobile web. Ting maintains that the conversation of native app vs. mobile website should still take place, but he predicts that soon HTML5 capabilities will make mobile websites just as attractive as native apps (if it’s animations you want, they’re already available). Finally, he urges marketers to push the limitations of what is possible in mobile browsers to speed innovation.

That’s it for this week! I hope you all have a great weekend, and we’ll see you back here next Friday – same time, same place.

It’s been a week of extremes in the mobile world – mobile ad spend is skyrocketing, webpages are pushing their weight limits, and mobile searchers are racing to the checkout lanes. So hold on to your hats, folks, and let’s dive in…

Monday, March 11

Bad news for mobile users: web pages now average 1.3 megabytes by Michael Oliveira for TheSpec

Quotable
“According to the website HTTP Archive, which regularly studies the top 10,000 most-visited sites online, the average web page now weighs in at about 1.3 megabytes, up about 35 per cent in the last year. It’s not a big data hit when accessing the web at home but it’s a different story for users with limited data allowances for their mobile phones.”

Oliveira’s article points out some pretty big problems facing today’s mobile browser – the average webpage is about 720 kilobytes, and Guy Podjarny, a researcher for Akamai, says that anything over 700 kilobytes is too heavy for mobile. With the rise of retina devices demanding higher-res images, and responsive web design essentially repackaging desktop websites for mobile, this is a dangerous trend. Ultimately, smartphone owners are the ones paying the price every month if they come in over their data plan limits.

Tuesday, March 12

12 verticals increase mobile advertising spend year-over-year: report by Lauren Johnson for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“According to the report, government services were the top industry to increase their mobile advertising spend year-over-year. Spend from government services increased a whopping 860 percent. Spend from employment marketers increased 523 percent, and travel marketers upped their mobile advertising spend by 495 percent.”

It’s easy to see in which industries marketers are feeling the greatest pain! Along with government, employment, and travel, other verticals that increased spend by more than 100% include personal and home services, fitness and wellness health, telecommunications, retails and restaurants, real estate, energy and power, entertainment, automotive, and consumer package goods. If your business falls into any of the above categories, do these numbers track for you?

Wednesday, March 13

Google Study Says Mobile Searchers Act Quickly, With 55 Percent of Conversions In The First Hour by Anthony Ha for Mashable

Quotable
“The [Google] study found that 45 percent of mobile searches are conducted to help make a decision. Most mobile searches (77 percent) are actually conducted at home or at work, but they’re purposeful when people are in a store, where two-thirds of searches are conducted to help with a decision.”

Beyond simply knowing that mobile searchers are more active and driven than traditional desktop searchers, Ha also notes that Google conducted this study in order to perfect its ad products and take better advantage of mobile behavior. Taking into account the context of a search (i.e. time and location), is what truly adds depth to this data. Marketers have greater visibility into behavior leading up to a purchase than ever before, and much of this knowledge is arriving with mobile.

Thursday, March 14

FTC urges mobile marketers not to cut corners when designing around small screens by Chantal Tode for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“The FTC this week released updated guidelines for online advertising disclosures that take into account the expanding use of smartphones and the rise of social media marketing. However, with advertisers urged to make sure hyperlinks are labeled properly and not to use pop-ups for disclosures, some mobile marketers may find themselves scrambling to adjust.”

If you’re a marketer in an industry that often requires lengthy consumer disclosures, like banking or healthcare, you’re probably struggling with how to optimize these disclosures for mobile. It’s a difficult problem to face, but the FTC doesn’t want marketers taking the easy way out. Recommendations include avoiding pop-ups and discrete links, and encourage disclosures to be placed as close to (and when possible, on the same screen) as any relevant ad claims.

Friday, March 15

Galaxy S4 launch: Samsung pins hopes on eye-tracking in battle with Apple by Dominic Rushe for The Guardian

Quotable
“Forrester analyst Charles Golvin said Samsung has no intention of playing Pepsi to Apple’s Coca-Cola. ‘Companies like Pepsi and Avis to some extent played up being number two, it was a point of difference. Samsung wants to be number one. In fact, it’s saying if you think Apple is number one, you are wrong.’”

We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the big launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S4, with its widely-reported eye tracking feature that allows users to scroll just by glancing down the page. Will it be enough to push Samsung past Apple in the US smartphone market? Samsung is aiming this phone at the “financially constrained”, providing a feature-rich and less costly alternative to the iPhone. So how about it? For those of you in the market for a new smartphone, is the Galaxy S4 piquing your interest?

That sums up the week in mobile! Did we miss something in our roundup? Sound off in the comments section!

Screens. Screens. Screens. You’re in front of one now. You were most likely using a different screen earlier today, and you’ll most likely switch to another screen later today. And maybe back to this one. Then over to another. In fact, a recent study by Google says that 90% of our media interactions are screen-based (TV, Desktop/Laptop, Tablet or Smartphone devices).

We don’t need a study to tell us that we’re in front of our screens throughout the day. That’s pretty obvious. But, it is important to understand how we are using these different devices, what needs we have for each, and how we use these devices together. The same study from Google revealed some key insights into our various screen usage behaviors. Here are some highlights:

• 98% of respondents move between devices each day
• Smartphones are the most common starting places for online activities
• 65% of searches start on a smartphone
• People more frequently search again on a 2nd device, as opposed to navigating directly to a site
• 81% of people use their phone while watching TV
• 80% of smartphone searches are spontaneous
• 34% of the time we simply use the device closest to us to complete an online activity

3 Key Takeaways from Google’s Study:

Marketers need to manage their brand experience across all devices

It’s clear that we rely heavily on our different devices (TV, desktop, tablet, smartphone) to obtain and consume information, given that 90% of our media consumption is screen-based. As any marketer knows, it’s crucial to maintain a consistent and positive brand experience across all of your channels (offline and online), and given that each device is becoming its very own channel, marketers need to make sure users have a positive brand experience regardless of what device they are using. Not only is it important for marketers to manage their brand experience seamlessly across all of these devices, but also to create a brand experience for each of these devices. Companies and organizations can no longer look at the web as just “The Digital” channel, but rather they have to start thinking about each of these devices as being a channel of their own.

Marketers must now focus on creating device-specific experiences that engage those users and satisfy their unique needs, which leads nicely into my next point…

Different Devices Demand Different Experiences

It’s crucial to think about what a specific user is looking for when they come to your website and interact with your company or organization. What kinds of information are they looking for? What actions are they taking? What are their immediate needs? Where are they? What other activities are they engaged in? Answering these questions will help you create device-specific user flows that will better engage your different audiences and improve your lead generation and customer engagement efforts. Let’s pull some stats from the Google study:

• 65% of people started a search for info on their smartphones (vs. 29% who started on a desktop or laptop)
  • 60% of those people who started on their smartphone then continued on their laptop at a later time (vs. 23% who continued on their smartphone after searching on their laptop)
• 80% of smartphone searches are spontaneous (vs. 52% on a desktop/laptop)
• Avg. time per interaction on a smartphone is 17 minutes (vs. 39 minutes on a desktop/laptop)

What this data reveals is that people more frequently start their searches on their mobile device versus their laptop, but are also very likely to continue those searches on their laptops at a later time. The large majority of these smartphones searches are also spontaneous, meaning they were prompted by some outside action, and smartphone interactions tend to be about twice as fast as desktop/laptop interactions. All of this supports the notion that smartphone searches are primarily used to find quick answers and to do preliminary research. People want and need to access the web on their smartphone in a manner that’s fast and easily allows them to find the information they’re looking for. However, using a desktop or laptop computer usually means the person is doing more in-depth research and/or planning, and has more time to process larger amounts of information.

It’s important to understand these key differences in user behavior when designing device-specific experiences, and to deliver the content, navigation and UX that will satisfy these different users.

Not sure where to begin? Start by checking out your analytics and identifying which devices are accessing your site, what pages are each device visiting the most and how engagement and bounce rates differ from device to device.

Focus on the Opportunities

Mobile devices have changed the way we communicate and find information. This massive shift in how we consume media has caused a number of immediate pain points (i.e. the need to build a mobile site, create an app, digitalize content, maintain cross-device consistency, etc.). However, as we find with any major shift, there are significant opportunities that arise to engage users through an exciting new medium. Marketers shouldn’t solely focus on satisfying an immediate pain point (although it is important), but rather, they should be looking for ways to leverage this new form of engagement and communication as an opportunity with great potential.

This study revealed that a striking 81% of people use their smartphone while watching TV. There are huge opportunities to leverage this alternate screen to engage users and capture lead information. Think about it. There’s an over 80% chance that a viewer has their smartphone within reach while watching TV, and they are most likely using that device during commercials. TV advertisements can very easily take advantage of this by actively promoting the user to download an app or visit a website and/or landing page to take advantage of a special offer or to find more information on a product or service.

Here’s an example to help illustrate:

A local university runs an ad on TV at 7:30pm for their Evening MBA program. This ad ends by telling the viewer to use their smartphone to visit a landing page to learn more. A prospective student, who conveniently has their smartphone with them while watching, sees the ad and is interested, so they decide to visit the URL. Upon arriving, a video starts playing with some additional info on the Evening MBA program and how to apply. At the end of the video, the user has the option to enter their name and email address to receive an application by email. They do this right away, and this prospective student now has a link and/or attachment to an application in their inbox that they can fill out when they’re next in front of their desktop or laptop. This university may have just landed a new applicant simply by adding a new call to action to their existing tv campaign.

Conclusion

This exemplary process set up by the university leverages the distinct user behaviors of these different devices, while also taking advantage of the fact that users are constantly switching back and forth between these screens. Because nearly all of our media consumption has become screen-based, marketers have great opportunities to engage and interact with prospective customers in new and exciting ways. However, they must first understand how their customers are using these different digital channels, and need a way to manage user flows, content, and lead gen processes in a seamless and targeted manner. Companies can no longer market to simply the “digital” channel, but have to think of each of these devices as channels of their own. Although it may seem like a challenge, focusing on these new channels of communication presents exciting opportunities for marketers to interact with their prospective customers, and understanding how your customers are using these devices is the first step in building an effective and engaging marketing plan.

How are you handling your multi-device marketing interactions? Let us know in the comments thread below!

Another exciting week in the world of mobile! From mobile advertising increases to a new operating system release, we’ve got it all covered in this week’s Mobile Roundup.

Monday, February 25th

Mozilla Launches Firefox OS For Mobile, Challenging Apple And Google With The Open Web by Parmy Olson for Forbes

Quotable

“Firefox OS for mobile phones is not a walled garden like Apple‘s iOs, Windows Phone or (to an extent) Android. It is based on the open web, which means interacting with many of its HTML5-based apps will be like visiting websites through a browser, opening temporarily as apps, and closing. The phone, in essence, is a browser. Mozilla says Firefox phones will be the world’s first ‘open web devices.’”

This week, Mozilla launched their long-awaited mobile operating system, which unlike the other smartphone operating systems on the market, is based entirely on the open web. Mozilla will be making this OS free of charge, and has already partnered with LG, ZTE and Alcatel on the project. While the Firefox OS will not be available in the US in the first wave of releases, it will certainly shake things up when it comes to making smartphones more affordable.

Tuesday, February 26th

Call For $30 Smartphones To Connect The Next Wave Of Mobile Users From Emerging Markets by Natasha Lomas for TechCrunch

Quotable

“Smartphones have been getting more affordable – thanks to the rise of Google’s Android platform, increasing competition in the space and decreasing component costs. But the price of devices is still a barrier to getting the next wave of mobile users using the mobile Internet.”

This article addresses the need for cheaper phones in emerging markets, like Africa, India and other Eastern countries. Smartphones have had enormous penetration into the cell phone market, but in order for these devices to be universally adopted, there are price barriers to be overcome. Cheaper operating systems have helped, but there also needs to be more cost-efficient hardware, as well as making connectivity and cell towers more accessible.

Wednesday, February 27th

Mobile Reaches Critical Mass Around the World…What’s Next by Jared for Mobile Marketing Watch

Quotable

“In the latest head-to-head comparisons of PC vs. mobile engagement, mobile now captures close to 40 percent of all time spent online. What’s more, mobile is already well ahead of PCs when it comes to engagement with maps, music, weather and, not surprisingly, social networks…What’s truly significant about this reality, however, is that these developments may represent only the tip of the iceberg for mobile’s future.”

Clearly this whole “mobile” thing is catching on. This article looks back briefly on mobile’s growth in 2012, and also looks forward to how mobile will continue to grow and evolve in the coming months and years. Check out the ComScore report regarding the future of mobile for 2013.

Thursday, February 28th

The Enormous Smartphones of Mobile World Congress by Stan Schroeder for Mashable

Quotable

“If we had to use one word to describe all the smartphones we saw at this year’s Mobile World Congress, it’d be ‘big.’ And we’re not talking ‘a little bit bigger’ than last year’s phones. Oh no, this year companies such as ZTE and LG decided to skip one or two incremental size upgrades, showing phones — or phablets, as they’re often called — which are, quite frankly, huge.”

This wouldn’t be much of a mobile roundup without the mention of the Mobile World Congress that wrapped up this week in Barcelona. While there has been an emphasis on making smartphones cheaper, there also seems to be a trend of making them bigger. It’s strange, phones seem to be getting bigger, tablets seem to be getting smaller…who knows where things are headed!

Friday, March 1st

Mobile advertising grew 11pc in Q4: ComScore by Chantal Tode for Mobile Marketer

Quotable

“‘We can’t ignore Internet usage behavior continuing to grow with the adoption of devices beyond the PC such as smartphones and tablets,’ said Tiffany Walker, senior director at comScore, Reston, VA. ‘The trend is really that they are starting out using their smartphones, then they are switching to their PCs during the workday and they are finishing out their day with their tablets.’”

ComScore recently released data showing that mobile advertising increased 11% from Q3 to Q4 in 2012, its highest increase ever from quarter to quarter. Advertisers are beginning to understand how people are using their mobile devices and have continued to increase their spending the rapidly growing channel.

That’s it for this week! Have a great weekend, and be sure to share any articles we might have missed in the comments thread.

Monday, February 18th

Tech Predictions for 2013: It’s All About Mobile by Claire Cain Miller for The New York Times

Quotable
“The mobile transition is happening astonishingly quickly. Last year, smartphone penetration crossed 50 percent for the first time, led by Android phones. People spend 63 percent of their time online on desktop computers and 37 percent on mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, according to comScore.”

In this article from the NYT, Miller breaks down a recent 48-page comScore report into the most important mobile highlights. Findings may not be all that surprising for mobile evangelists (Surprised that people spend 37% of their internet browsing on mobile devices? Or that Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon top the most-viewed-on-mobile list?). However, there are some interesting stats on up-and-coming mobile companies and how mobile is already affecting traditional industries.

Tuesday, February 19th

Seven Tips for Creating a Mobile-Aware Marketing Culture by Joe Wozny for MarketingProfs

Quotable
“The next cultural shift must be to ask that your organization pay attention to mobile marketing—at the strategic planning level (while building your mobile digital road maps) and at the tactical level (while you pick ‘low hanging mobile fruit’). With mobile culture-building and mobile leadership in mind, here are seven tips to consider within your organization.”

Trying to bring your company or organization into the mobile age? It may feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle, but Wozny offers some small changes that will get the ball rolling. Start by understanding your mobile marketing tools and options, deciding on metrics to measure success, and optimizing your website for mobile – which we hope you’ve already done by now…

Wednesday, February 20th

5 Usability Tips that You Should Implement on Your Mobile Website by Jessica Davis for CMSWire

Quotable
“Design and navigation are the life blood of any mobile website — optimizing them to the small screen can drastically improve usability. The five tips discussed here tell you how you can do exactly that.”

Davis has pulled together a quick list of 5 best practices to make sure your mobile website is as user-friendly as possible. The hit list includes important points like navigation, using lightweight images, making sure buttons and links are thumb-friendly, etc.

Thursday, February 21st

New Apple Patent Application Describes Flexible iWatch by Stan Schroeder for Mashable

Quotable
While not exactly a wristwatch, the bracelet could show all sorts of info on its “flexible screen — including that of the temporal variety — but Apple also has a couple of novelty ideas for the device.”

Here’s a fun one for you – Apple filed a patent back in 2011 for a flexible, snap bracelet-like iWatch. With the rise in popularity of “wearable tech”, including gadgets like FitBit and Pebble, it was only a matter of time before the big players moved in on this trend. Would you wear a smartphone on your wrist, a la Inspector Gadget?

Friday, February 22nd

Strategies for Marketing in the Social-Mobile World by Roger Katz for ClickZ

Quotable
“What best practices should smart marketers consider to fully take advantage of the mobile opportunity? First and foremost, marketers should employ a “mobile-first” attitude. Every digital consumer touch point should assume a mobile viewer and employ mobile best practices wherever possible. Every digital campaign, website, and email should be easy to read, simple, and friction-free on mobile.”

With Mobile World Congress 2013 right around the corner, it seems everyone wants to prepare you for the brave new world of mobile marketing. Here are 3 more useful ways to begin approaching the Mobile-Social marketing channel (social communities like Twitter, Instragram, and Facebook).

Hope you all had a wonderful week! Feel free to add any articles we might have missed to the comments thread below. Thanks!

Happy Friday, mobile fanatics! We hope you had an excellent Valentine’s Day – did you happen to buy flowers for your sweetheart on a smartphone? In any case, we’ll get you up to speed on the week that was in mobile.

Monday, February 11th

Tapping into the market of mobile Internet users by John Elliot for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“Companies that want to tap into [the mobile Internet] mass market in-the-making must realize that they face growing competition in a connected world, where a new generation of mobile Web users has multiple devices and platforms from which to choose. And to outperform their competition, broadcasters, technology companies and service providers must meet the needs of customers who take for granted interoperability, multi-device and multi-platform support and a superior user experience.”

Elliot’s important bit of advice in this longer thought piece is “follow the money.” Look at where mobile internet users are willing to pay for premium services (the cloud, mobile payments, online communities, etc.), and pay attention to potential pitfalls like data security and mobile viruses. Overall, this article may appear daunting at first, but it’s well worth the read.

Tuesday, February 12th

3 Mobile Marketing Predictions for 2013 by Tim Macchi for Bluetrain Mobile

Quotable
“We have been talking about NFC (Near Field Communications) for a few years now. While NFC can be used for many purposes, including mobile purchases, location-based advertising, and social sharing, its popularity until now has been limited to the number of devices that currently include an NFC chip…With most new Android phones shipping with NFC, and as the chips themselves become cheaper to produce, we are bound to see more advertisements using NFC as a method of extending the ad onto the mobile screen.”

Not to appear self-serving here, but our very own Tim Macchi served up his 3 Mobile Marketing Predictions for 2013, and if we had to bet on the outcome, we’d put all our money behind all three. Think there are any we missed? Add them to the the comments thread!

Wednesday, February 13th

Gartner: 52% of Q4 smartphone sales were Apple or Samsung; Nokia sunk to lowest overall handset share by Jon Russell for The Next Web

Quotable
“Sales of smartphones grew 38.3 percent over 2012 – to reach 207.7 million units – but Samsung and Apple, the mobile industry’s big two ‘frenemies’ dominate, and accounted for a joint 46.6 percent in the final quarter of the year.”

Poor Nokia, it seems they can’t catch a break these days. In what is looking more and more like a two-horse race, the former Finnish giant has slipped down to 18% of all phone sales in Q4 (smartphones and feature phones), a 5.4% decrease since last year. Meanwhile, the “frenemies” are pulling ahead without any recognizable competition. It’s looking like 2013 is going to be all about finding a strong #3.

Thursday, February 14th

Smartphones To Finally Outsell Feature Phones in 2013 by Eric Zeman for Information Week

Quotable
“Gartner thinks the world is on pace to sell about 1.9 billion mobile phones this year, with smartphones accounting for 1 billion and feature phones accounting for the remaining 900 million. The tide will likely not switch under the second half of the year.”

Well, we knew this day was coming, and now it appears to have finally arrived. With the proliferation of affordable smartphones across the globe, and advancements in network technology, it is now easier than ever to purchase an internet-enabled phone. Do any of you still have a feature phone? If so, do you plan on sticking with this hardware in the future, or upgrading to a smartphone when the occasion arises?

Friday, February 15th

Few companies will exploit the gold mine of mobile information in 2013: Forrester by Lauren Johnson for Mobile Marketer

Quotable
“There is a different between marketers that use mobile in tactical approaches and those that view it strategically as part of a long-term multi-year strategy, per the [Forrester] report. To pull of the latter takes complex technology and significant investments from marketers that they need to own.”

Forrester’s latest report sheds some light on the ongoing need to make mobile a priority and not an ancillary tool. Yes, it will require changes to processes, perhaps even new hires and investments, but this will all be necessary in order to truly make progress. This is a great thought piece if you need help determining how best to pitch mobile to company stakeholders.

That’s it for us this week! Hope you all have a wonderful Presidents Day weekend. Feel free to add your own favorite articles from this week in the comments thread!