This month, I’d like to talk about two big trends I see in the world of technology. The first is, for lack of a better descriptive phrase, “mobile computing.” It’s the notion that we now carry little Internet-connected computers in our pockets that—oh, by the way—make phone calls, too. The second trend is making tremendous amounts of computing power and disk storage available over an Internet connection, what’s being called “cloud computing.” Combined, these two trends mean it’s becoming possible to do anything, anywhere.
But what does “anything, anywhere” mean for your business?
First, it means making sure you have first-hand experience with what it means to be mobile today. If you don’t have an iPhone, a Palm Pre or one of the Android-based phones such as Google’s Nexus One or the Motorola Droid, you should. My admittedly limited experience with BlackBerry devices is they’re presently also-rans in the “webphone” world, at least as of this writing. Since a sophisticated phone exists on each of the major carriers, you don’t have any excuse. Yes, a data plan (required by these Internet-connected phones) will set you back $30 to $50 each month, but it’ll pay for itself in both awareness and productivity.
I still believe the iPhone 3GS is the most mature and usable example of a webphone. Although the Nexus One is more capable in some respects, Apple’s design and customer experience still win the day. Alas, AT&T remains the primary stumbling block for most people considering an iPhone.
Second, you need to look for your business in the way most mobile people do: by using your phone to search for whatever service or product you provide (for example, “dry cleaning”). The interesting difference in searching from your phone is that results are “location aware.” In other words, your search results will (generally) be biased toward your current location, unless you specifically say otherwise. Obviously, you want to make sure people searching for your business by name can find you as well, but this doesn’t tend to be a problem (check anyway). Also, verify that the directions to your street address given by Google Maps, Yahoo Local and MapQuest are correct. Now that mobile phones are also talking GPS units, it’s more important that ever.
Another consequence of location awareness is that phone users know exactly how far your business is from them. You can, to some extent, control where your business appears in the Yellow Pages by choosing a good name (like AAA Rentals). In the world of mobile Yellow Pages, however, the listing order is frequently controlled by distance, which differs for each person looking for your offering. This is an interesting problem, and I don’t have a solution for it.
An aside: Don’t forget to consider offering incentives to people who locate you via phone. This is great for retail establishments. Mobile advertising is going to be a huge area of growth as people figure out what works and what doesn’t. But in the meantime, this is a very simple and effective strategy for identifying and growing your mobile fan base.
Third, you need to see how your business appears when someone locates it via mobile search. Ideally, you have a mobile-aware site that provides an experience suitable for a mobile device’s smaller screen and is optimized to simplify the things that a mobile user is most likely to do (making a reservation, calling your business, looking for business hours). As an example, compare the appearance of www.frogsleap.com (Frog’s Leap Winery) or www.aa.com (American Airlines) on your webphone versus your desktop/laptop computer. Some time ago, I wrote that mobile websites are actually better for users than the typical website, since they’re optimized to be useful (as opposed to marketing/selling to visitors). The American Airlines website is a particularly good example of this difference.
Let me share with you my pet peeve about mobile websites: Sometimes, I just want to see a company’s “real” website (the one I see on my desktop computer), but many sites automatically detect I’m using my iPhone and redirect me to their mobile site. Unfortunately, the usual reason I want to see the “real” site is because I can’t find what I’m looking for on the mobile site. So, please make sure you prominently offer this option to your visitors (and make sure it works—I’ve had times when I’ve gotten stuck in a magical redirection loop). Both mobile sites I mentioned clearly display this option.
Last, you need to consider how people may want to interact with your business while they’re mobile. This is an extension of your website design, moving from providing information like phone numbers and business hours to providing applications like making an appointment from my phone (as opposed to calling for an appointment). Do you get lots of calls to see whether something is in stock? Perhaps you need an “app” that lets people look it up in your inventory from their phone.
One thing you certainly want to do here is survey your existing customers about their current mobile phone use. I almost said “phone” without the qualifier; more and more consumers are dropping their landlines, so if you’re in a consumer-based business, being mobile-savvy is even more critical. This can be a valuable source of information about services you can provide to them via a phone application. (Note: The word “application” is a little loose—some very useful “Web apps” can be built using current browser technologies like HTML, CSS and JavaScript, as opposed to “native apps” built in a programming language like C. In fact, the Palm Pre’s webOS only permits development of “Web” apps. And, at least in the iPhone world, Web apps don’t require Apple’s approval to be offered to users, the way native apps do.)
Additionally, Web and native apps alike can make use of remote servers via the phone’s Internet connection to handle the heavy lifting of computing and storage “in the cloud.” The downside is you have to be able to connect to the Internet to access cloud-based resources. As network coverage becomes ubiquitous over the next decade, this will become less and less important. But today, it remains a consideration.
Anything, anywhere is here. The question is, how will your business capitalize on it? Give me your thoughts at mduffy@northbaybiz.com.
