Archive for August, 2011
Apps are quite simply the coolest thing to happen in mobile for 10 years. Sure SMS has been big, but never in my 20 years of being in the mobile world have I seen a phenomenon the like apps have caused. But one thing is certain and has never been any different, technology, especially in mobile, driven by the voracious appetite of consumers, never stops evolving. So whilst apps have had their place and will continue to be a massive growth area and of vital importance to any brand or enterprise’s marketing and engagement mix, an app on its own is only a small part of the puzzle.
2011 has been branded ‘the year of the mobile’ and this is probably true – it is estimated that mobile browsing will exceed PC browsing globally in 2011. On that basis I think it’s safe to say that mobiles are now a fully integrated part of our lives and will increasingly form a key component in marketing, advertising and engagement. Giving brands the ability to reach right into the heart of a consumer’s most personal space and form a one-on-one relationship.
Apps, like music downloads, will score highly for short periods and as quickly as they rise, they will fall to obscurity with only a very few gaining the accolade of a classic and remaining embedded in our everyday lives. Any mobile strategy has to be built around a number of technologies and access points. Having a really cool app that links to a standard PC website is always going to disappoint so spending huge sums just to ‘get on the band wagon’ is potentially wasted. What you need is a cohesive, well thought through mix of an app. Supported by a well-designed mobile website to give the customer a really good experience – fast, effective and relevant to a ‘mobile’ browsing experience, not a cut down version of a PC site that was originally designed for broadband speeds, a big screen, mouse, keyboard, a chair and probably a cup of coffee!
Once engaged, you can offer customers more targeted functionality. For retailers this is going to be especially important. Offering an augmented shopping experience is paramount. Let’s face it, if you don’t, your customers will do it for themselves. Using the web on their mobile to get the best prices and your store to look, touch and compare.
HP and Walmart launched a fantastic mobile shopping experience designed to enhance the retail environment. Having researched their consumers, they found that on average shoppers would come into the store up to three times before purchasing. They concluded that people were going home to compare products and prices before finally coming in to buy. By implementing a product comparison service delivered to the mobile browser they have increased sales of peripherals by 11.2%. And this is just the first step – local WiFi will allow customers to browse the web for free while they’re in store which means more data capture.
So it’s no longer app versus mobile web, it is simply ‘mobile engagement’, using all the tools available and carefully weaving them into your sales and marketing strategy.
London, U.K. – 8 August 2011. bemoko (www.bemoko.com), the leading mobile web software development company, announces its strategic partnership with Zero Barriers (www.zerobarriers.co.uk), a leading cloud and online sales consultancy, enabling organisations to quickly and cost effectively benefit from a unique multi-channel delivery platform that creates fully interactive mobile web sites.
With increasingly high expectations of a single seamless experience across online and offline media, e-commerce and real-world customer interaction, organisations are required to deliver a consistent message for consumers, irrespective of the delivery channel. The bemoko platform bemokoLive enables clients to create and deliver ground-breaking, interactive mobile websites, web applications and campaigns enabled and perfectly optimised for any mobile device both now and in the future.
Mat Diss, Co-Founder and Managing Director of bemoko comments: “We are very excited to be partnering with Zero Barriers. Their understanding of innovative cloud and online technologies like ours, combined with an extensive network of strategic partners and their unique online marketplaces, will enable us to rapidly extend our footprint both here in the UK, and throughout the EMEA region. We look forward to working with them and helping more organisations navigate their way through the fast moving and sometimes complex world of Interactive Mobile.”
Jamie Melling, Chief Executive of Zero Barriers adds: “We are delighted to enter into this partnership with bemoko. With the exponential growth in mobile devices, consumers expect to be able to access information, products and services wherever, and whenever they want. This means that organisations can no longer simply rely on the internet to interact with customers, they need to make their services available via a multitude of channels. However, until recently, the costs and timescales associated with making this possible have been prohibitive. Now, with the bemoko platform, organisations can rapidly create great mobile websites, ensuring a consistent online experience and significantly enhance revenue opportunities.”
bemoko (http://www.bemoko.com), the leading mobile web software development company, today announces that it has released its HTML5 Optimiser. This advanced feature allows the development of mobile sites completely in HTML5 – smartphones that support HTML5 will receive the advanced features and for those mobile devices that do not support HTML5. bemokoLive automatically optimises the page to a device compatible mark-up.
The first partner to take this new service to market is Alterian (LSE: ALN), the leader in customer engagement technology and solutions, having joined forces with bemoko in January 2010. Addressing key pain points that organisations face today – namely how to support the growing population of mobile users through a compelling mobile experience, whilst at the same time tackling the shifting sands of new mobile devices, formats and operating systems. The joint Alterian and bemoko offering is a solution to this dilemma based on three pillars:
- bemokoLive, the bemoko platform that instantly identifies over 12,000 mobile devices and then delivers content specifically targeted and tailored to that device’s capabilities
- Alterian Content Manager, the Alterian web content management system that allows instant updating of dynamic content on any channel (web, mobile, social media, email), without the need for any technical knowledge
- Expert services from bemoko and Alterian to ensure organisations develop lasting business benefits from their mobile initiatives
Arjen van den Akker, product marketing director of Alterian’s Web Content management division comments “The popularity of HTML5 is rapidly increasing, but the number of handsets that support it is still pretty low, site developers can now benefit from bemoko’s new HTML5 Optimiser. With several browsers such as Nokia and Blackberry unable to handle HTML5 elements, the tool removes the need to add additional code. bemokoLive automatically updates to lower forms of HTML for devices that do not support it as yet, making coding simple and fast for the developer.”
Phillip Clement Sales Director at bemoko adds “We are very excited about the release of this service. A developer no longer has to choose whether to compromise their development environment or not to support legacy devices. This new tool delivers the best of both worlds. I couldn’t think of a better partner to launch this service.”