Traffic to mobile websites grew 600% in 2010 after tripling between 2009 and 2010 1. Widespread access to websites through mobile devices is something that designers, developers and business owners alike are learning to commandeer to their best advantage.

In his book “Mobile First”, internationally recognized digital product leader Luke Wroblewski forays into the capabilities and constraints of designing for mobile online experiences. The book’s premise suggests that designers should design for mobile first and work their way back to designing for the desktop. In the next few posts I hope you share with you a few things I am learning along the way. Let’s start with a brief overview of the mobile market.
 

A better mobile browsing experience

In 2006 the Motorola Z3 was considered a high-end mobile device in the United States. The Z3 featured SMS, e-mail, instant messaging, a 2 mega-pixel camera, music player, full color screen, WAP 2.0/XHTML web browser and connected to AT&T’s high-speed data network. Despite it’s robust list of features, the web browser performed very poorly. So poorly in fact, that PC Magazine wrote “...it's best not to open the browser at all” (source).

In June 2007 the first iPhone was released, offering a substantially improved mobile browsing experience. During the time that AT&T was the exclusive carrier of the iPhone, there was a 4,932% increase in mobile data traffic 2.
 

The surge in smartphone adoption

Feature phones still make up the vast majority of devices on the mobile network but moree people are getting smartphones every day. Those who could not previously afford a computer can now access the Internet through a relatively affordable data plan and phone. According to Cisco, smartphones represent only 13% of global handsets in use today, but make up 78% of total handset traffic 3.
 

Mobile web solutions and native applications

There are great reasons for creating mobile web solutions and native mobile applications alike. Creating a native mobile application allows you to monetize your mobile product through an application store, improving the “find-ability” of your product and promoting its ongoing usage. From a development standpoint, native applications allow your product to take advantage of system resources and hardware capabilities that aren’t available through mobile web browsers.

A native application can’t replace a good mobile web experience though. Where native applications must be developed for several operating system platforms, mobile web solutions do not as they are accessed through your phone’s web browser. Mobile web solutions allow you to easily test multiple design options and do not require the user to download updates as might be necessary for a native application. Creating a mobile-ready website ensures that anyone who follows a link to your website will have a great experience.
 

In summary

With widespread adoption of mobile browsing on smartphones, there is a large push towards designing online experiences that are suitable for both the desktop and mobile phone. Whether or not you choose to develop a native mobile application, it is best to ensure that your website offers a great mobile online experience.

1, 2, 3 Luke Wroblewski. Mobile First. A Book Apart, 2011.