GSMA Mobile World Congress

At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona in mid-February 2010 a number of key announcements were made which highlight how important the mobile channel is becoming:

1. Google's CEO, Eric Schmidt put mobile at the heart of the Internet giant's future in a special keynote speech
2. Over 20 global mobile network operators have joined forces to launch the Wholesale Applications Community, in a bid to prevent the rise of multiple individual application stores such as the Apple App Store
3. A number of manufacturers have released brand new smartphones, including Motorola's eighth Android based device, Alcatel-Lucent's first Android phone (due to be launched in June) and O2 have signed a deal with HTC to supply the Smart in the UK from April

1. A number of manufacturers have released brand new smartphones, including Motorola's eighth Android based device and Microsoft has launched Windows Phone 7
2. The BBC is set to launch two applications for news and sport that will make it easier for smartphone users to access the broadcaster's content on their handsets.

These announcements and the activity at the Congress will act as a catalyst to the market, but the significant issue of websites not being optimised for mobiles continues. This, and the development of apps for mobile devices, is where Oculus Digital can help you.

Take a look around train stations or airports or even walking down the street and you'll see people using mobile devices to communicate or search for information. You're on the move, or waiting to be so.

In those short snippets of time, you don't want to read an entire website - you want the ability to easily and quickly search for products, services, news or events. And you don't want to be waiting too long.

The vast majority of websites contain way too much content, information and functionality to see and use on a 7cm x 4cm (or smaller) screen. Optimising for mobile means challenging what's really important and ensuring that website visitors get a rich experience - and that users are not left waiting for large images or masses of content to download. Every page needs to be easily

navigable and should be an elevator pitch in its own right. You've only got seconds to convey the message/content.

Marketers have to adapt to different offline and online media types and mobile devices are no different. This is what the BBC has done, as have Google, Nike, Facebook, AutoTrader and Twitter, to name just a few.

A number of quick-fix solutions and applications are now available, but true website optimisation requires human intervention to interpret and review a website. If a visitor goes to your website - the one that confirms your brand - then they should be given the option of viewing a mobile-optimised version because it is a separate media channel in its own right. In addition, we also advocate the building of app for iPhones/iPads/Android devices that also enhance your brand presence and make you widely available to users.

‘7.2 million UK adults access the web on their mobile phone’
Nielsen Mobile, March 2009

• Recent studies have shown that 95% of iPhone users regularly surf the internet and Google has said it sees 50 times the number of searches using the iPhone than any other mobile device
• BBC research (January 2009) found there were 11.6 million users of the mobile web
• According to Booz & Company, within three years the average user's time spent on the mobile internet will increase by 220%
• By 2013, according to Juniper Research, mobile phone users will generate 43% of all search revenues, and the number of mobile web users will treble
• Smartphones account for 13.5% of all mobile device sales globally, states ABI Research, and they predict 31% by 2013
• Smartphone users do more and spend more online than others – advertising network AdMob reports that smartphones account for 35% of its worldwide ad traffic.

Clearly this is not a channel to be ignored – contact us for a meeting to see how we can help your business.

People on the move want instant, effortless access to information, entertainment and data. With potentially millions of customers now trying to access your business from a mobile device, your web presence needs to be:

• Functional: time-pressed mobile users need to find what they need, fast
• Uncluttered: smaller screens means key features must be immediately obvious
• Quick to render: slower access speeds mean complex graphics take longer to load
• Easy to navigate: small screens and fiddly keypads make typing and scrolling difficult
• Minimally branded: branding elements must not obstruct the user experience

Offering a mobile-optimised version of your website, or an app, is easy, affordable and makes sound business sense.

We can optimise and fine-tune your online presence for mobile viewing to ensure the user experience is ideal for this medium. We can build apps for mobile devices that get published through ‘native’ App Stores. We can advise you, to help you rethink how your customers, prospects and other website visitors will experience your business online.

We follow global industry best practice and standards, primarily those from the W3C, to produce websites that are not simply stripped-out content from an existing website. There are essentially two fundamental areas to consider:

• Repurposing content, design and navigation specifically for the mobile platform
• Delivering applications, or functionality, in such a way that the mobile user’s journey is fluid and simple

Our process and service offering are as follows:

• Review/audit/test existing website alongside business and marketing objectives
• Review technology platform and technologies used on existing website
• Define new content and functionality to be delivered
• Create/build new content, design, navigation and functionality
• Link device auto-detection database
• Testing and more testing
• Complete mobile-optimised website

We develop websites that work generically across mobile devices. A 'sniffer' detects the mobile device being used and gives the user the option of choosing which website version to visit, resulting in a much more effective user experience. Or we can build apps that work locally on users’ devices, and which can also interact with a website to pull in up-to-date content and information.