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Let's talk quickly on timely topics to elevate your web strategy. Fellow developers will be addressed as well, but in small doses, and wherever possible, in common-speak.

Archive for the ‘Android’ Category

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The mobile web… enough to make Facebook scratch and claw.

June 17th, 2011
Author: Andrew

Back in 2009, I wrote an article discussing the future of the mobile web which was simply one of many similar screeds that I had penned on the Fourth Speaker. Ok, enough with the self- congratulating on the subject. I know you will soon be asking us to optimize your site for mobile, or you will be irrelevant.

What I wanted to point out in this post is a recent TechCrunch article covering Facebook’s Mobile ambitions. The read is a good one indeed, as it simultaneiously uncovers the dog-eat-dog underbelly of the big tech players and the absolute importance of the mobile web.

Mobile will become the big survival test for the big names of today, as well as the marker for whether your business will thrive or suffer in obscurity. Take this seriously. You should not think todays battles between the big players as isolated from the battles you will face to make your business the best that it can be.

Here is the comment from a fellow developer on the story that triggered this post:

Kevin Cawley ยท Boulder, Colorado
dude, you have lost your mind creating drama where there is none. mobile web apps will be the future - it is inevitable; everyone knows this, facebook knows this, and that is why they are pushing this project to accelerate destiny.

mobile web technology will catch up (just like it did on the desktop). as a developer I will massively benefit because I can build one app that runs anywhere. and my consumers will benefit because they can have a choice in mobile device and have a consistent and good experience. how can this not be clear to everyone?

the big losers will be the app stores (mainly apple) - google I suspect doesn’t care as they will make buckets of $ on mobile search.

Posted in Android, Mobile Web, webkit | Comments

Multi-screen optimization

March 22nd, 2011
Author: Andrew

New update here is that we just recently redid the CGIPro site to optimize it for a very wide range of browsers based on the viewport width.

Take a look at the rest of the site (the blog still has a few tweaks outstanding) in a pinched width and you will see the style automatically adjust to fit.

As a quick side project, I also just launched my wife’s female voice over talent website from the CGIPro template using the same tools. I even changed out the audio player based on the screen width so iPhone and Android users will just have a link to the MP3 files, which enjoy native support.

This really matters most for mobile. As an android phone user, I can tell you that most websites I see (which of course applies to the growing iPhone community as well) have a terrible formatting problem when viewing them on the phone. I can take your site as is and transform it to be optimal on all types of today’s continually diverging media.

Posted in Android, Internet Marketing, Mobile Web, Web 2.0 Development, Web Design, iPhone, webkit | Comments

More Smartphones than PC’s in 2 years? Is your website ready?

November 10th, 2009
Author: Andrew

Bolstered by an article showing that 400 million smartphones will be shipped and active in 2011, the smart money is starting to drift in the right direction of building sites to succeed on the mobile web.

The rapidly increasing number of web-enabled smartphones makes them an attractive alternative to PCs. Consumers are proving to be more willing to forego upgrading their existing PCs in favor of upgrading to the new generation of mobile devices. Even with the new, lower-priced netbooks increasing in popularity, subsidized smartphones are often more economical, not to mention more portable and personal.

We have placed a strategic bet in this area ourselves, and plan to announce the launch of HomeSafari.us, a web based mobile real estate portal next month, right as the awareness of the mobile web starts to hit a flood of new verizon droid owners. Home Safari is a partnership of CGI with Realty Pro of Vancouver Washington.

Now, what does this mean to you? Or, as I like to say, “What does this spark in your imagination?” It should spark a sense of opportunity in having your website ready now. You can web enable your field personnel to report over the mobile web on task completion, GPS based location tracking, etc. You can have your customers ping you regarding their needs on a customized app WITHOUT having to build a native iPhone or Android app. You can be THE go to source for mobile video and information in your industry and market, and we can help you in both the production and marketing needed to establish your business in a leadership position here.

If your imagination is not sparked by this, then imagine the dread of ignoring yet another key market/technology trend. If you wait two years, your web presence will in the minority of sites that is not optimized for today’s smartphones. Smartphone users will have already passed you by and bookmarked your competitors. Google and other search engines will marginalize you for not keeping up in this area. Smartphones are indeed going to outsell PC’s in two years, and this is not a fad, it is a movement toward a more personal and portable online experience.

Contact us today about ways to prepare you for the future. Now is the time to have your site optimized for the new screen, and it does not have to be as expensive as you might think.

Posted in Android, Cellphone, Marketing, Mobile Web, Web 2.0 Development, iPhone, webkit | Comments

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