I am a man on the move. I, like millions of others, like to use my mobile phone to make phone calls, check email, text and browse the internet for whatever my heart desires. But, every day I run into sites that are not optimized for mobile. I am shocked at the number of brands that still don’t have WAP sites! Unfortunately, some of my favorite brands make that list: Subway, Virgin America, Club Monaco, GAP, NY Magazine, etc, etc. So, I ask – What are brands waiting for?
Maybe brands think that mobile-internet hasn’t caught on? That can’t be it. Mobile-internet usage is increasing at near-exponential rates – 110% increase in 2009 over 2008. (http://leep.it/hR)
Maybe brands think that most people don’t have internet-accessible mobile devices. Don’t think so. Nearly every (if not all) new mobile phone can access the web. Granted, viewing may be more pleasurable on smartphones, but even smartphones are more prevalent today than ever before. Every carrier offers a myriad of smartphones and many have become very affordable – special thanks to Google for indirectly paying carriers to sell Android phones (http://leep.it/hS)
Could it be that brands think users are happy accessing their normal websites from their mobile phones and thus they don’t need to create WAP sites? Nope. A recent report shows that 60% of mobile-internet users have had problems accessing websites on their mobile in the last 12 months. Additionally, 51% have experienced content on websites being too large or too small. (http://leep.it/hT)
So I am left dumbfounded. What in the world are brands waiting for? Do you know?