Its no surprise to anyone at this point that mobile technology and specifically, mobile apps are growing at an explosive pace. The fastest growing market segment in economic history is seeing no signs of slowing down. Billions of dollars in marketing have and are being invested in moving more and more people around the world to smart phones and it’s working. The question is: Are you riding the mobile wave?
Despite its massive popularity however, the possibilities that are out there for your business are still a mystery to many business people who are leery of spending their hard-earned cash on something they don’t completely understand. There is no doubt that it can be confusing out there and confused minds take no action. So here are some basics to think about which might prove a good initiation in to the exciting world of mobile.
1. Your phone is not a phone: Before you give me a “What you talkin ’bout Willis?” how can my phone not be a phone? Well what it really is is a computer, and in the case of smart phones, a very powerful computer. One of the things your little computer does is make phone calls. If you shift your perspective from “phone” to “computer” you’ll begin to see the possibilities of what these devices can achieve.
2. What is an “App”?: Apps are basically another word for software. Mobile apps are software specifically built for mobile devices. Just like your computer has either a Windows or Mac opperating system (OS), your phone has an OS too. Iphone’s is called “iOS” and Google’s is called “Android”.
3. Learning Curves are WAY down: This is a big hurdle, especially for some more mature clients of ours. They remember the painful process they went through to learn computers in the 90s and 2000′s and the idea of going through that again (and understandably so) is just way too painful. So they turn their back on it. Then one day someone comes along with an iPhone, they spend 10 minutes learning the basics and POW, they are off and running! If you are holding on to the pain of the past it’s time to let go. Technology has come a long way in terms of usability and the rate of growth is so fast that unless you plan on kicking the bucket in the next year or two, you simply wont be able to do business effectively unless you jump on this bandwagon. Sorry for the harsh words here but ask yourself this: We all know that old guy who just refused to get a computer or a website. How is their business doing now? Was that a smart move? Technology was moving along at a crawl back then compared to today so roll up your sleeves and take a trip to the Apple store. They are amazing and passionate people who would love nothing more than to teach you everything they know. While your there you’ll learn what the power of a powerful brand can do and you’ll be wishing the people who work for you would be half as in love with your products as Apple employees are with theirs. Its truly amazing to see.
3. What about mobile websites? Right now there are over a billion internet enabled phones in the world. By 2014 Morgan Stanley predicts that mobile internet traffic will actually surpass desktop. Chances are that trying to view your current website from a mobile phone is far from a pleasurable experience. Many sites take ages to load and often don’t work at all on many phones, especially the iPhone with its complete aversion to Flash. If you don’t have a mobile site then its pretty much guaranteed that you are missing out on traffic to your site. The good news: This is a relatively cheap problem to fix.
Well I certainly hope we haven’t overwhelmed you. The facts are simple: If you don’t have a mobile presence in most cases, you are probably hurting your business or, at the very least stunting some serious potential growth. We live in the information age. People want information at their fingertips and they want it fast. People want to be engaged. They want efficiency. Give the people what they want and they will do the same for you.
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