Mobile publishing develops two related products: mobile Web (content) and mobile apps (software).
Mobile Web content is the easiest to implement, most popular to use and has the fewest ongoing maintenance requirements. Its development usually requires simple scripting languages such as HTML and CSS.
Mobile apps are 1) A native app that must be installed on the device; 2) A Web app that resides on server and is accessed via the Internet. They provide the highest degree of control, require the most labor and provide the most targeting to a particular device. Their development usually require higher programming languages such as Java and C++.
The term “mobile app” often is misused to describe products that fall under mobile Web content, such as a PDF product.
The number of people who surf the Internet on phones has doubled since 2006, according to Nielsen Mobile, to 40 million. Still, only 16 percent of people with cellphones use them to go online, and those that do visit an average of six sites a month, versus 100 on their computers. (2009 article)
Usage share of browsers for August 2011
Source IE Firefox Chrome Safari Opera Mobile Unknown
Net Applications 51.8% 21.1% 14.5% 7.7% 2.9% 6.4%
Statcounter 38.9% 25.5% 21.5% 6.2% 3.1% 7.1%
W3Counter 35.4% 26.7% 20.2% 6.2% 2.3% 9.2%
Clicky 41.9% 26.9% 20.9% 9.0% 1.2%
Wikimedia 36.3% 24.1% 18.2% 10.7% 4.4% 9.6%
Median 38.9% 25.5% 20.2% 7.7% 2.9% 7.1%
The top five “mobile” devices are:
Problem:
The growing number and variety of digital information devices makes it impossible to develop unique products for each one.
Solution:
Cross platform publishing that uses XHTML 1.1 Basic or HTML 5.0 (in development) as a common markup language.
Options
Sample Piggyback Template
http://www.caribeez.com/st-maarten/st-maarten-weather/
http://www.caribeez.com/st-maarten/st-maarten-weather/mobile/
{if segment_3 == “”}
{embed=”embeds/header”}
<h1>St. Maarten Weather</h1>
{exp:weather}tncm{/exp:weather}
{embed=”embeds/footer”}
{/if}
{if segment_3 == “mobile”}
{embed=”embeds/header_mobile”}
<h1>St. Maarten Weather</h1>
{exp:mobileweather}tncm{/exp:mobileweather}
{embed=”embeds/footer_mobile”}
{/if}
Sample Header
<?xml version=”1.0″ encoding=”UTF-8″?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC
“-//WAPFORUM//DTD XHTML Mobile 1.1//EN”
“http://www.openmobilealliance.org/tech/DTD/xhtml-mobile11.dtd”>
<html>
<head>
<title>HeadlineVA Notices and Foreclosures – Mobile Version</title>
<link rel=’stylesheet’ type=’text/css’ media=’all’ href='{stylesheet=mobile/mobile_css}’ />
<style type=’text/css’ media=’screen’>@import “{stylesheet=mobile/mobile_css}”;</style>
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>
With such diversity in the mobile device landscape, it goes without question that you should test your designs on as many platforms as you can manage.
Small format advertising is required for resolutions such as 320 x 480.
The relatively small role played by mobile at the recent Facebook developer conference points to the company’s difficulties in figuring out how to monetize mobile.
The Mobile Marketing Association has five large sizes as part of a universal ad package:
320 x 50
300 x 50
300 x 75
216 x 36
216 x 54
Attracting and keeping mobile users is the same as other tactics:
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