Mobilizing Your Interactive Experience

Rapid change. It’s all around us and is happening at light speed - all of it driven by technology. With interactive technology it can be both a blessing and a curse. Change gives us new tools that make it easier to tell our stories, more ways to share them, and better ways to reach our target audience. But with this change comes the challenge to stay on top of it. Just as we implement one thing, another shinier object comes along whose light shines just that much brighter.

For the past few years, industry experts have been claiming that each year would be ‘the year of mobile’. Despite some elements of mobile barely brushing expectations, such as mobile advertising, for example, wireless technology led by the iPhone has truly exploded.

It’s no secret that smart phones are changing the game. And to support their advanced features, 4G networks now deliver these rich capabilities faster and more like a true broadband experience than ever. Where does this leave you and your company’s interactive experience? Many are talking apps - apps for the iPhone, apps for the iPad, apps for Android, RIM and Windows Mobile devices. Sure apps can be cool, leveraging native functionality of the handset and their OS, but are apps the best approach to staying at the head of technological advancement and change? That depends on your wireless goals. And research shows the average shelf life of an iPhone app is just 30 days…

In most cases, there’s no reason to tap into the native functionality of the wireless device. Unless one needs GPS service or some other endemic feature of the device you have to ask ‘why’.  Scalable, distilled content experiences on the handset can certainly be rendered via mobile website optimization. Keep it simple, make the navigation buttons big enough that the user doesn’t need a toothpick to click, and focus on core actions you want the user to take. Before you say ‘we need an app’, think about why and what you want that app to do. Chances are a simpler and less costly mobile optimized website is the right solution for your needs – and over time is less expensive to maintain as well.

Guy Borgford

VP Strategy, FGI Seattle – web development, mobile optimization and interactive user experience.

Interactive for all.™