Why do I need a mobile website?
Date: Fri, 01/13/2012 - 10:47am
As we wrote about last week, we've been around since mobile got going with simple sites. We've been fortunate enough to finally see mobile's potential become reality in the last few years with the introduction of the iPhone and Android phones. As more consumers get the iPhone and Android devices, more companies are understanding why they need a mobile site. It's simple numbers. According to Google's mobile data:
- 85% of mobile devices are going to web enabled by 2013
- Mobile search was up 4x compared in 2011 compared to 2010
- 1 in 3 mobile searches have a local intent like places to eat or shop.
So the demand is there for people to want to spend money on making a mobile site or app.
But how easy is it? Well, it's not easy, but it's also not as hard as it used to be.
There are some very good platforms out there that we use that can help deliver some mobile apps like Appcelerator, Titanium and Corona. For content-driven apps, one can use RSS to regularly update the app to keep it fresh. If you have a content-managed website, that can leveraged to create the RSS feeds so you only post once and the data filters down very quickly to the app. Additionally, while mobile apps are all the rage, mobile websites have also had a renaissance. The ability to code websites in HTML5 allows companies like Studio to provide app-like experiences within a website. Using the main website as a driver, we can push content to the site once and using adaptive theming like Omega on a Drupal CMS allows us to create tailored tailored experiences for different mobile devices (e.g., smartphones, tablets) as well as traditional computers.
