The mobile Web has a problem. Namely, global mobile Web traffic is growing at a 125 percent compound annual growth rate through 2012, according to Gartner Inc. But still, only 1 percent of Web sites have capabilities specifically designed for mobile. And that translates into a generally poor wireless Web experience for users, and a big missed opportunity for operators, content owners and advertisers alike.
Sure, those with smartphones and full Web browsers can navigate to any site on the Internet; but limitations within the handsets or within the operating system (i.e., lack of Flash support in the iPhone) can render Web sites that have been created for desktop use pale shadows of themselves when viewed on a wireless device. And, every device has its own specific way of rendering content, so a BlackBerry user might see a regular Web site as having overly large type, while a Droid user might have trouble viewing embedded images. Or, vice versa.
“Users that have a bad experience on any Web site while viewing it wirelessly will take a while before coming back to the property using a handset, and about two-thirds say they have, indeed, had a bad experience on the mobile Web,” explained Trey Harvin, CEO at dotMobi, the wireless top-level Internet domain. dotMobi is expanding its focus, aiming to optimize the mobile Web opportunity with a new platform for making the experience more user-friendly place.
“There are 3.8 billion mobile subscribers out of 6.7 billion people on the planet,” he continued. “There’s not a phone maker in the world that is creating a phone without a mobile browser. Everyone’s bar has been raised by the events of the last 12 months. In some markets, the mobile phone is the computer. This is the first online experience those users will ever have. So, having a bad mobile experience actually jeopardizes the overall Web opportunity in general.”
Done correctly, the mobile opportunity itself is large, according to Gartner, which projects mobile ad spending worldwide to grow a full 74 percent this year to $913.5 million. By 2013, the research firm expects mobile ad spending to surpass $13 billion. And mobile advertising is expected to be a big revenue generator for everyone involved, from MNO to content provider.
Smartphone uptake is driving mobile Web usage, which Gartner expects to account for 45.5 percent of all mobile phone sales in 2013 (up from around 9 percent just last year). But Gartner analyst Andrew Frank said the creation of better mobile Web sites will also lift “mobile Web access among non-smartphone users." That’s helped along by feature phones incorporating more smartphone-like features such as QWERTY keyboards and touchscreens.