Mobile browsing - the present and future of the web
First of all I need to apologize for the lack of posts in the last little while. Things have simply been too busy, and unfortunately this blog has suffered from the increased workload around here. But enough with the apologies, on with the article!
I’ve been using my iPhone (yes, in Canada) now for the last couple of months, and of course I love it. Beyond the sheer coolness factor, I have to say that I grow increasingly convinced that it will redefine web browsing, web development and especially local search and advertising for many people.
In the past, if I wanted to take my wife out for sushi, I would search Google Maps for a “sushi restaurant in Toronto”. Then if over dinner my wife expresses that she’d like a new chandelier for the dining room, I’d wait until I got home, and google “lighting store in Toronto”.
All of this changes with the iPhone, and no doubt other similar devices that will soon follow (queue Android). No matter where we are at the time, I can now use the cell triangulation feature in the iPhone maps location to find our current location. Then I look for the closest sushi restaurant (no doubt the reviews feature will soon be integrated, so I can find a decent one as well). And while we’re talking over dinner, I can simply look for the nearest lighting store, and go directly there from the restaurant.
Now this has obvious implications for local search and advertising. Businesses will need to ensure that they’re utilizing all geo-targeting opportunities available to their website, such as location-based SEO, Google Local and geo-specific PPC advertising. However, it also has a major impact on website design for big businesses. How so?
Suppose you’ve met a friend for lunch, and you’re discussing an upcoming home purchase. They’re recommending the mortgage or real estate services they used. Rather than wait until you’re home in front of your computer, you can browse the site on your mobile device, and even fill out a contact request form.
Yes, the iPhone can render full web pages. However, a full-blown web page on a big business website can be quite large, and can mean that you’ll be doing plenty of multi-touch zooming and panning just to find your way to a contact form. This is far from user-friendly, and quite likely to lose visitors with mobile devices. So it’s obviously in the best interest of businesses to have a mobile-device version of their site. This might mean a stripped-down site, but it could also simply mean a more streamlined rendering of the same content.
Now take it beyond the personal recommendations. As iPhones become more prevalent in corporate culture (and Blackberry upgrades their browser to keep pace), there will be far more professionals browsing over business meetings and lunches. A first impression of a company - based on their website - may be presented on a mobile device.
You can now start to see why all businesses will need to plan their mobile device strategy.
This may now be a small concern - one site I’m tracking is only receiving only 1% of its traffic from an iPhone. But in the next 12-18 months, and iPhones become more widespread and Android hits the market, this number will rise dramatically. Companies need to begin planning now how they will meet this growing demand for a proper mobile interface to their site!
