Mobli(e)zation

The main reason why I wanted to write is based on a moment of truth. I am in Jersey on a short term visit and I spend about 4 hours on a daily basis to travel from edison till jersey city. I am not a typical American. People get on to the train with a newspaper or iPod or with something to eat. So everybody is busy doing something.With the rest, stil worse, a good sleep early in the morning. Sounds a perfect oxymoron.

I fit into the category of wondering what to do or wondering what people are doing. The first few days its truly amazing to see things they way it happens. Obviously, coz this is my first visit to US of A.After that its BAU ( Business As Usual).

Now as I was figuring out what to do, I realize what can I do with my mobile.Can an access internet with my mobile? For tech buzz my statement sounds as though am from stone age. Hey buddies, I agree. I can hear ( rather am assuming) you guys telling me that technology has advanced and am really stupid about taking up a topic like this.No people do m-commerce, transactions etc (couple of jargons). But hold on for a moment. This thought made me " Google" for some research artiicle on internet content on mobile. I felt happy that am not left out coz only 15% of the wireless subscribers end up using mobile phones for internet access. Great.

That brings me to the next question.Is there a latent potential or is this also going to pass as a fad? No reserach but gut says that its going stay and stay for long. The only possible rational explanation that I could think of right now... Its fast paced life and it will continue to be so. .. So multi tasking is the way to go...

So coming to the point.. Actually I was trying to build a business case through my experience. So this trend is there to stay what are the challenges faced by the front runners like Yahoo, Google who are offering mobile content...hoping to create an experience that puts the devices on a level playing field with the personal computer

• Small screens. How do we provide content to ensure excellent customer experience
• Band width: Obviously mobile operates on diffrent bandwidths so downloads will be at differnt speeds. Just to make a mention ...there are 2 terms that I want to make a mention, perceived download time and actual download time. I will try and write about this in my next blog.
• Key pad: Obviously the input device..
• Above all consumer expectations on the content from the devices are very different.This the most imporatnt variable. If not handled correctly could turn out be a dynamite. I am a marketing guy hence customer needs comes first. (Actually, all of us are thought to say nice statements like these. I am no expection.)

Right now the 15% of the users seem to flock to sites such as email, search, information and ofcourse the latest from the Yahoo and Google... the maps.

Let me try and take each aspect and try to drill down and even further to find out why the rest of the 85% is still not embracing the this technology marvel.

Incase you have any inputs...pls share it with me.