Guest comment: Mobile is, like, so 2009

At the beginning of every year, regular as clockwork, there is a plethora of articles with titles such as "20XX is the year of mobile" or "Sorry, next year, rather than this year, will be the year of mobile". However, all of this misses the point, somewhat, as mobile isn't something that has had, or is going to get, its own year. It's not a thing at all. It never has been a thing. Not only is it not a thing, it's just about to die, even as a fictional thing!

So mobile is dead. Long live converged devices! The point is that, with computer manufacturers like Apple, Acer and Dell now making mobile phones and companies such as Nokia looking at "mobile" PC's, we now have to stop regarding mobile as a separate entity. What we are actually looking at is the continuing rise and rise of the internet. Essentially, everything digital that is useful is going to be accessible via the web and, put simply, it's taken 10 years for us to get connected with devices that can even vaguely use it properly.

What does this mean? Does the arrival of hundreds of new devices mean that putting content online for consumers so that they can access it from all their devices will get harder, or easier? The answer is that the way you approach this issue will either make the future a relative paradise, or the seventh circle of hell.

One of the main shortcomings in mobile marketing to date has been the totally separate realm of activity and content created for it – rather than its integration into overall web strategy.  This state of affairs has been brought about as a result of the many devices with low processing speeds and networks with low access speeds. Now these have improved we need to have much better joined-up thinking, creating plans that include all devices, including converged ones.

Companies are clearly aware that consumers are attempting to access their information from mobiles, but it's a bit chicken and egg at the moment, hence why we still hear, "Only 1% of my hits are from mobiles so it's not important enough yet". This is not that surprising if companies aren't promoting the fact that their websites’ work on mobile. Currently, few people go to websites on their mobiles because they assume it won’t work. However, if a company seriously wants to maximise its online investment, it will need to understand how to ensure its website can be visited from any device, and promote this actively. 

Interestingly, we hear that AutoTrader’ mobile website (www.autotrader.co.uk) is now outstripping sites like The Sun and Guardian. Why? It's been tooled up so that it really pulls out the stops on user experience for all devices. It was probably pricey but I bet it delivers. Key to its success is the fact that Auto Trader seems to have really understood the differences in context and reasons for visiting its website at home compared to on the move and tailored the content and experience accordingly. 

There is no time like the present for ensuring that you have a mobile strategy that is robust and futureproof.  Build converged devices into your overall plan and only create separate activity for different devices if you absolutely have to. So, work out what people will want from your regular site while they are on the move. Make sure that all of your "versions" pull from the same content databases and then re-purpose it for whatever device your customer is using at that point. This has two benefits.  Firstly, it's cheaper to cater for mobile users because you are only building the mobile bits that are truly different.  Secondly, it will save you from nightmare experiences going forward as you will only need to update things once when the content changes.

By Douglas McDonald, Head of Mobile and Chris Tyas, Head of Innovation, at digital and direct agency Tullo Marshall Warren

www.tmw.co.uk

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