Effective design for mobile phones
Smartphones are big business. Apple rewrote the rule-book in terms of mobile interaction with multi-touch and gesturing with the iPhone, and have set a precedent for the distribution channel of mobile apps via the App Store. With many other phone companies jumping on the bandwagon, there is now more choice than ever for the consumer smartphone market.
The idea of creating a mobile version of a website has, for a long time, been considered a nice to have, but costly, investment, with low expectations of a return on investment. However, with sales of smartphones maintaining a growth rate of 35.3% year on year and smartphone penetration well on the way to reaching 13.5% of new handsets sold (source, Informa Telecoms & Media), there is certainly a valid argument for the mobile platform as a point of delivery for your website.
Currently, Apple's iPhone version of Safari does a very good job of making the user experience of browsing websites (which were originally designed for higher resolution platforms) a passable one, however, the user experience could be vastly improved by serving a website specifically designed for mobile platforms. This presents designers with a whole new design problem in terms of navigation, interaction and meeting the overall expectations of mobile users.
There may also be a call for a shift in strategy in terms of the actual content we serve to mobile users. behavioral trends of of users 'on the go' differ to those who are using desktop computers, for example. Mobile users may not have the benefit of time to absorb vast amounts of information, and consideration must be given to breaking down information for display on smaller screens. Mobile users interact very differently with devices through multi-touch and gestures, as opposed to their desktop counterparts, who use more traditional input methods of a keyboard and mouse - another extremely which must also be taken in to account.
Careful consideration must be given to the demographic of your target audience - will your product or service be useful to the type of person who may fit the 'smartphone user profile'?
So, as we witness the rise of smartphone popularity and the increase of users actually using Web enabled devices, it makes sense to embrace smartphones as a valid marketing platform, whilst taking in to account the need for creating the best user experience possible.
Keep an eye out for the new Bourn Mobile website - launching Summer 2009.
Posted By: Ciaron
19 April 2009