A few more quick thoughts on the Mobile Web
Okay - I didn’t go to Mobile Web Africa which appeared to be well thought of by all who twittered it. I had arranged to go to the SANGONeT Social media for NGOs conference later that week and honestly since (unlike the company/organisation sponsored people) I don’t get paid to attend - 2 conferences in a week is more than I can afford.
One thing that I found quite interesting is that the mobile web conference was that it was held in 5 star hotel in Sandton (the richest few sq miles of Africa) which I personally reckon not a great location to talk about the mobile web in Africa. The second thing I found interesting is that the most liked speaker appeared to be Marc smith who appeared to talking more about social networks than mobile web. In contrast one of the most liked sessions at the social media conference was actually on the mobile web.
Having spent a great deal of time analysing mobile web projects and in particular my own mobile web sites I have come to the following conclusions
A) Mobile web sites are hard to market & hard to find - Most popular mobile websites appear to be found in one of 3 ways -
1) As mobile companions to large popular web sites and advertised on those sites - facebook, twitter etc..
2) As bookmarks on operator portals or bookmarks on Opera Mini
3) Through word of mouth
B) The mobile user tends to want a more interactive experience than a traditional Internet user - The most popular applications / sites are all social network or chat related. An extension of this is that users like quick hits - fast and fun
C) Successful Mobile application appear to put the user experience ahead of functionality. Generally the app should follow the easiest path at all times and the number of options should always be kept to a minimum that will still keep the key functionality.
D) Mobile fits extremely well to local sites and services especially where the location is partial known and it ties in with existing community structures - Hyperlocal sites that are easy to access could get a strong local following very quickly especially through A3 and if they bear in mind B and C.
To me this means is that the mobile web is (and will continue to be) hugely based around just a few major sites - however as time goes by more and more hyperlocal portals will be major sites within their hyperlocal area.
I have gone a few steps on from this thinking with a new project I have set up - A purely South African Mobile Classifieds site called AdAd.co.za - I will blog a little about this in the next few days.