Would you buy from a mobile phone?
They have now invented a term for it – m-Commerce
Studies show that consumers buying goods from their handsets is set to more than double by the year 2013 (Survey by Ovum and Verdict Research Company)
There is a current total of £123 million being spent via mobile, out of a total of £21bn online retail spend.
There is already a shift towards the mobile-web, so are we ready for what they reckon could be the next big step?
What type of products might one buy via a mobile device?
Am I a dinosaur for feeling it will be years before I take a chance on buying from a mobile? Although I might buy from a Tablet.
What do you think?
The New iPhone – what do you think?
After much speculation, the brand new iPhone was launched yesterday. Many of us were expecting a fifth version of the popular gadget, but instead we’ve had to settle (for now) for the iPhone 4S.
The presence of Steve Jobs was missed as new Apple CEO Tim Cook took the helm to talk us through the new features. Although the iPhone 4S is not a re-invention of the smartphone, there are some pretty good features…
The iPhone 4S benefits from having the iPad 2’s dual-core A5 processor under its hood, making it twice as fast as its predecessor. The dual-core graphics are seven times faster too which is good news for gamers. Video recording has also been upgraded to full 1080p HD.
Better still, it will be noticeably improved in terms of call quality – something that has always bothered iPhone fans in the past.
There was also a surprising new feature that has left opinions divided…
The new Siri intelligent personal assistant comes loaded on the 4S and is a voice-controlled information device. You shout your question into your iPhone, and Siri gives you the answer (albeit after a few attempts). Personally, the thought of scary Siri’s voice has me reaching for the mute button!
So will you be buying an iPhone 4S on 14th October? Or will you hold out for the iPhone 5, rumoured to be launched early next year?
Either way, this new launch confirms that the Apple iPhone is here to stay – so make sure your website is iPhone compatible by calling us today.
The Google +1 button is rolled out for use on the move
Google+ has enjoyed huge success since its release in late June of this year, reaching 10 million users within the first two weeks! Now that Google + is available to everyone, its popularity is growing and this trend looks set to continue.
A lot of Google + users have described it as a hybrid of Facebook and Twitter – a new social networking tool that integrates with the web seamlessly. Both Facebook and Twitter are available as smart phones applications, so when will Google follow suit?
Google+ is taking its first baby step in to the mobile web world with the introduction of the +1 button to mobile browsers. It should already be available to anyone running either iOS 4.0+ or Android 2.1+ browsers. More browsers are destined to follow.
We should expect continuous updates from the search giant over the next few months. Technically, Google+ isn’t even out of the Beta stage yet – so who knows how powerful it will become once all the bugs are ironed out.
It is estimated that more than 1 million websites have the Google +1 button embedded into them – make sure yours is one of them and call eSterling to update your site today!
Why Smart Phones are Taking Over the World
It’s amazing to think that the number of mobile internet users looks set to surpass desktop users within the next four years.
Just take a look at the facts:
- 89% of theUKpopulation use a mobile phone [Source: Ofcom, October 2010]
- 54.3 million smart phones were sold in the first quarter of 2010 alone. [Source: Gartner, via AOP Digital Landscape Report, June 2010].
- 7.1 million people access the internet through a mobile phone [Source: Internet Monitor Survey, Kantar Media, September 2010]
- Smart phone usage in theUKis growing up to 70% faster than inEurope. [Source: comScore/GSMA MMM, via AOP Digital Landscape Report, June 2010].
These figures really show how much we’re in love with smart phones. And it’s easy to see why – as Claire discussed in her post last week –smart phones can be used anywhere and everywhere. The internet is available to your customers on the go and as long as you have a mobile website, your customers can find you while they are on the train, waiting for the bus, on their coffee break or even when they’re having their hair cut!
If potential customers can find your mobile site from their smartphone, they are more likely to choose you over your competitors. Because smartphones are great for sharing, your customers can also use their phone to share links to products with their friends via Facebook or Twitter – meaning that they can spread the word about your products for you!
Now is the time to get ahead of your competition by investing in a mobile website. These sites are specially designed for new smartphone technology, helping your company to tap into a lucrative audience of new customers that want access to your website when they’re on the go.
A mobile website is different to a regular website in both appearance and functionality. Mobile websites need to be much simpler than a conventional website in order to suit the mobile phone format. This means that there need to be fewer graphics (as these can take time to load) and less text so that your customers can access the information they need fast.
A mobile site also needs to be compatible with the different smartphones on the market and therefore needs to be coded in a clever way. If you find that your current website looks great on a desktop, but not so hot on a mobile, then it’s time to upgrade and get a mobile website that suits the purpose perfectly.
Make sure you are leading the way and contact eSterling today about your new mobile website by emailing us at enquiries@esterling.co.uk.
The Smart Phone Revolution
These days most of us have a mobile phone and increasingly we have smart phones, giving us easy, fast and reliable internet access everywhere we go. Whether we check our Facebook or Twitter accounts in bed, read the news headlines in our coffee break or order our Chinese takeaway on the train home, we’re thoroughly addicted.
And whether you find this trend an amazing experience, or an irritating nuisance it is doubtless a fantastic opportunity for businesses to increase their online sales. With a 24/7 internet culture which goes everywhere (and I mean everywhere – you’ve got to know at least one person who takes their smartphone into the smallest room) businesses can now reach their customers in the most unlikely of places.
To take advantage of this irritating/ exciting phenomenon, businesses are developing mobile versions of their existing web sites, specifically created to be easily navigable on a range of smart phones. By ironing out the bugs traditional sites can throw up on mobile devices, you can maintain customer interest and keep them browsing your site and buying your products wherever they may be.
Speak to your web development company today about creating a mobile version of your website, throw in some strategic online marketing and wait for the sales to roll in. Just don’t ask your customers where they were when they clicked to buy…