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BuddyPress, Facebook, Social Bookmarking, VoIP on the iPhone 3G, Disqus
O’Reilly Webcast: Getting the iPhone Open Source Tool Chain
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I still recall my first mobile phone – a Nokia 3110. The year was 1998 and cellular technology in South Africa was still relatively new. I hate to confess that I didn’t think (at the time) that cell phones would ever really take off.
I am, however, proud to say that I was the first in my family to make contact via SMS. My mother called me a couple of minutes after reading my message (on her trusty Ericsson T10, capable of displaying about two lines of text), very surprised – almost freaked out in fact – to find out what had just happened…?
A look at the specification sheet for the 3110 reveals how far we’ve come since then: monochrome graphics with a green backlight able to display three lines of text (excluding the single function button’s text), a phone book capable of storing 250 single number entries and, you guessed right, SMS capability. No alarm. No clock. No browser. No camera. No music player. No GPRS. No Wi-Fi. Ten years on and I am unable to imagine life without my phone!
Some Facts and Figures
Mobile phones and the massive boom in their capabilities have certainly changed every aspect of our lives. It’s probably easier to buy a discount kidney than to get accurate statistics on the trends of South African mobile users, but according to Vodacom’s 2008 annual report, they have a customer base of 24.8 million. Hot on their heels is MTN at 14.8 million. Vodacom further reports that during the month of November, 2.4 million unique users visited their Vodafone live! portal.
Another interesting fact, also according to Vodacom, is that 70% of the visitors to Vodafone live! don’t use the fixed Internet regularly, making a large portion of the South African market newly reachable in this way.
Unfortunately however, quite a lot of the phones out there at the moment still have very limited abilities. WAP, or Wireless Application Protocol (as opposed to Wireless Access Point), enables mobile phones or PDAs to access the Internet.
Most phones (again, statistics are not easy to find) have been WAP enabled for some time. Due to the vast number of mobile vendors out there and the even bigger selection of WAP browsers available on phones, getting a consistent, yet enjoyable experience across to all users is a massive challenge.
Some Tips for Mobile Marketers
Even though mobile browsers are becoming more and more advanced, there are still a couple of things I can point out to any marketer considering to venture into this medium:
Browsers
On the other side, there are very effective third party browsers available for free. One that stands out above the rest is Opera Mini. Developed in Java ME (Mobile Edition), it runs on most any device that is Java enabled. Opera Mini Developer Resources provides a number of articles giving advice on making Web applications more accessible in Opera Mini specifically, but that could also be used to ensure the right content gets served to the right browser.
In my opinion, any company serious about marketing their brand should cater for both desktop and WAP browsers. Most Web users out there today have become way too spoilt by fancy technologies like YouTube and Ajax to ever be persuaded to switch to mobile browsing or even try it out. There is, however, still a huge gap between those who have regular access to these applications and those who could potentially be reached wherever they are and with as little as a phone in their hand.
It will certainly make me a happy chappie to see the mobile web expand in the future. And with location aware technologies (have a look at The Grid), and suggestions like the one below at the Future of Mobile event in London, I think mobiles have a very bright future. I think it might even be the future!
Free Mobile Java Games on the web! Rollercoaster Rush -Scary
windows mobile application programming
Lesson 7 – Visual Basic – How to Create a Windows Mobile App for Calculating Your Tip Amount
