Category Archives: Mobile Mesh

Epic Mix Leading The Way with Ubiquitous Check-in

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Last year Vail Ski Resorts through ‘Epic Mix‘ trialled a program that used RFID technology in the ski pass to help skiers track and share their ski activity on the mountain. The video below explains how this works:

The app is a great example of what I refer to as the ‘ubiquitous check-in’. By placing connected objects on the person or in the environment, the activity of that person can be monitored and then provided back to that person in a meaningful way. With Epic Mix, skiers never stop doing what they are doing but they get access to stats on their ski performance, photos and easy to use apps that help relive the excitement of their ski trip. Now compare the value of Epic Mix with a better known Check-in app, Foursquare:

  • Every person on the mountain with Epic Mix is automatically checked-in 100% of the time. The Foursquare picture is less complete with comparatively few users and infrequent check-in activity.
  • Epic Mix badges and awards are based on what you have done, rather than where you say you have been.
  • The value of ski performance stats, pictures and being able to share your story is much greater with Epic Mix.

Many have asked how leading check-in applications like Foursquare and Gowalla can evolve and become more relevant? Epic Mix, using smart UX, data, social graph integration and game design around a Ubiquitous Check-in, provides a good answer to this question.

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Tablet Activity – Online Publishing Worth Paying For

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I came across an interesting study by Pew Research on the adoption of tablet usage and daily activity. Of 1159 tablet users surveyed, the report claims that 11% of Americans have purchased tablet devices since the launch of the iPad in March 2010. So what are they doing?

Tablet Users2019 Daily Tablet Activities | Project for Excellence in Journalism
Some other interesting findings for tablet owners:
  • 77% use their tablet every day.
  • 14% have paid for news services on their tablet devices.
  • Over half tablet owners share the device in their family.
  • Only 23% reported preferring reading books vs. reading on the tablet.
  • Apple dominates with over 81% surveyed owning an iPad.

Is news worth paying for on a tablet device?

Yes and no. If publishers just churn out the same garbage that can be read on a web browser then there is no added value and attempts at charging a fee will fall flat resulting in poor customer lifetime value.
But if done well, the magazine reading experience far outperforms the experience of reading a magazine the traditional way. I love, and pay for,  the experience Wired and Popular Science provide based on their use of integrated animation (see this month’s cover of Popular Science as an example), videos (for ad content or features), more intuitive layouts (that do not have the restrictions of traditional print) and interactivity (tap for more content). Publishers who think about the user experience in their niche and develop new ways to interact around the tablet device will be the winners as more and more people engage with tablet devices.

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Internet Trends 2011 – MobileWeb

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One of the dramatic internet trends in 2011 is the growth of Mobile Web. As of Q2, 2011, the number of 3G mobile subscribers globally is 936MM with 35% Y/Y growth. This still represents just 17% of mobile phones out there!

Smart phones are now outselling regular mobile phones in the US and Europe. In coming years the number of smart phones will continue to increase as a % of the total handsets sold and by 2015 over 50% of web usage will be via the mobile.

Already, applications like Pandora, Twitter and Facebook have a high percentage of their traffic coming from mobile web and apps (as the chart below indicates) and Google search on mobiles has increased four fold in the last 12 months.

Mary Meeker2019s 2011 Presentation On Internet Trends [Slides] | TechCrunch

There are things every business large and small can do to prepare for the mobile web:
  1. Make sure your business or service is searchable from your smartphone. Try a Google search!
  2. Check if your website is mobile web friendly.
  3. Optimise your paid search advertising for mobile. The mobile experience is different!
  4. Think about a mobile app for your business.
  5. Mobile is personal, think social!

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Mobile Web Usage

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Here are some stats that were sent to me by AboutUs.org on web usage via the mobile phone:

  • Mobile Internet usage nearly tripled in 2010, for the third year in a row.
  • 5% of worldwide web traffic and 8% of U.S. web traffic comes from mobile devices.
  • At least 40% of people in the U.S. have a smartphone, like an iPhone or Android.
  • Experts predict that within 5 years, more people will be browsing the Internet on mobile devices than on computers.

Mobile Web on The March

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A new study in the US has found that use of the Mobile Web has overtaken desktop internet usage. Businesses not thinking about mobile web need to get on board fast. Some revealing stats courtesy of Flurry.

Consumers Now Spending More Time on Mobile Apps Than the Web [STUDY]
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