Slides taken from Giles Colborne's talk on the myths of mobile web design, at Internet World 2009. The presentation offers some thoughts about what designs and strategies make sense when creating mobile apps and websites.

1. Mobile design myths
Giles Colborne
cxpartners
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flickr.com/photos/bandidoofoz/38854532/
Friday, 8 May 2009

2. Before we design
anything, we spend
time watching
people using
technology -
In their homes, at
work and in the lab
Friday, 8 May 2009

3. Sales Wow!!
110
82.5
55
This presentation
isn’t about the
27.5
growth of mobile
2007
Web.
2008
0
it’s the future and
2009
it’s happening now.
2010
3
Friday, 8 May 2009

4. Sales Wow!!
110
82.5
55
This presentation
isn’t about the
27.5
growth of mobile
2007
Web.
2008
0
it’s the future and
2009
it’s happening now.
2010
3
Friday, 8 May 2009

5. AnD this
presentation isn’t
about how to code
sites for mobile
phones.
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Friday, 8 May 2009

6. AnD this
presentation isn’t
about how to code
sites for mobile
phones.
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Friday, 8 May 2009

7. Instead, here’s
some what we’ve
seen by actually
watching people
using mobile
devices.
Friday, 8 May 2009

8. You can’t
charge for
mobile content
Myth 1
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9. Marriott’s hotel
booking site made
over $1.25m in it’s
first three months.
During the Winter
snowstorms,
stranded
travellers led to a
peak in traffic.
Apple’s ‘App store’
shows that people
will pay for
content (so long
as it’s easy to
download and
install).
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10. What sells? Think about two key groups:
• People in urgent need
Stranded travellers
•
Tickets (cinema, train,...)
•
Need that file / answer fast
•
Will pay a premium to get it now
•
• Casual consumers
Things that can be bought / used on the phone
•
Games, music, apps
•
Will pay a little to enjoy it now
•
(But they are very casual)
•
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11. It’s like a small
website
Myth 2
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12. Mobile phones
aren’t like Desktop
Computers. They’re
more like Notepads.
To understand
what works, ask
‘What do you find
in Filofaxes?’ -
Addresses, Travel
plans, Expenses,
Clippings from
everyday life...
Friday, 8 May 2009

13. On Amazon’s
website, they want
you to buy.
But On Amazon’s
iPhone site, equal
emphasis is placed
on The wish list.
In other words
‘Make a note and
buy later (when
you’re at your
computer)’.
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14. The developers of
‘Snap Tel’ noticed
people taking
photos of items
they want to look
up and buy later.
So Snap Tel lets
you take photos
and then identifies
the products in
them and links to
shops where you
can buy them
online.
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15. Best buy have a full
featured website.
But they know that
mobile users are
probably trying to
do one of two
things: look up a
product that
they’ve seen or
find a nearby
store.
That’s all their
mobile site does.
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16. One mobile site
fits all
Myth 3
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17. Different devices
‘feel’ different.
What works well
on one, will feel
clumsy and
awkward on
another.
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18. You may want to
give up on mobile
web and stick to
text messaging.
But even this has
its problems...
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19. The problem with Text
When they wrote
this text message,
the developers
didn’t realize that
this brand of
mobile phone would
have a soft key
labelled ‘Reply’.
Users can’t figure
out which key to
press.
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20. The problem with Text
Text NATURE to 8025
Try to reply to this
marketing message
and this mobile
phone ‘predicts’ the
wrong word.
Users text the
‘wrong’ response
by accident.
Even text messages
are undermined by
differences in
handsets.
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21. People don’t like
registering
Myth 4
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22. On a website,
registering feels
like ‘handing your
details to someone
else’.
On a handset, it
feels like ‘keeping
them in your
pocket’.
And it saves
returning users
time - so they
recognise the
benefits.
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23. Extras are good
Myth 5
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24. Extras get in the
way of the main
event.
You want them to
contact a car
dealer? then why
distract them with
wallpaper
downloads?
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25. Look at people’s
mobile phone
wallpaper.
They have photos
of their kids,
significant others,
or pets.
Your product won’t
be cuter than this
guy. Don’t waste
your time.
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26. What it means
• Don’t look for mass audiences
• It’s a personal medium
• Quality experiences matter
• Focus on a key audience type
• Casual (games, snippets)
• Repeat (registered, personalised)
• Urgent (‘I need a hotel’, ‘Get me that file’, ‘When’s my flight’?)
• Think small
• 6-12 month web project becomes 6-12 week mobile project
• 60 person project team becomes 6 person project team
• Hook into your website’s APIs and data feeds
• Watch people in the real world
• Research, prototype, test
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27. www.cxpartners.co.uk
@cxpartners
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