Ask Steve: Mobile Websites

A couple weeks ago I did a good deed. 50 people and I were waiting an abnormally long time for the next train downtown. Standing on the platform I whip out my Blackberry, click the mobile browser and checked-out our regional transportation agency’s mobile Web site. After a few simple clicks I announced triumphantly to the crowd that a disabled car was causing 20-25 minute delays on our train route. I felt like Superman -- without the Spandex.

The importance of mobile web enablement will eclipse traditional website e-commerce, ad-word search and online self-service within 10 years. This week Ask Steve surfs the Anywhere Web with insights from Carl Howe, one of the industry’s foremost mobile Web experts.

Dave from Brookline, Massachusetts: We do web design and development for large and small businesses. Clients are asking a lot about mobile web sites. Anything we should keep in mind?

A: Mobile web sites are big business these days. According to dotMobi there are more than 200,000 mobile-enabled websites growing at an annualized rate of 150%. And according to Yankee Group survey data, 27 million people in the US (15% of mobile enabled consumers) browse the web on their mobile devices. What else is there to do waiting for a train on a cold, winter’s day in New England?

We recently used a proprietary Yankee Group tool to score mobile Web sites -- what Yankee Group calls the Anywhere Web -- finding the average site scored a 54 on a 100-point scale. But the most disheartening issue: it was hard finding most companies’ mobile Web sites. Once we found them, few provide anything specifically designed for mobile users, instead relying on reformatted desktop content.

That being said, some industry sectors and companies had strong mobile sites including Bank of America, U.S. Bancorp and First Interstate Bank in the financial services sector. Edmunds, Amazon.com and Best Buy led the pack of online retailers. American Airlines and British Airways won best mobile Web sites in the airline industry.