There have been numerous articles written on the rise of mobile computing and why your company website needs to be mobile friendly. It is becoming clear that mobile computing is slowly surpassing desktop PC/Mac usage, with 55% of consumers now conducting their online browsing via their mobile devices. The shift towards mobile computing is changing the digital landscape, and subsequently forcing digital marketers and advertisers to evolve and be actively present where their consumers are.
People carrying their smartphones on them at all times is fast becoming mainstream consumer behaviour, and accordingly businesses need to ensure they are accessible at all times to capitalise on this. This means simplified, easy to navigate mobile-friendly pages- consumers now overwhelmingly expect this and businesses need to deliver if they wish to stay competitive.
"At Microsoft, sales of software for PCs are sharply declining. At Google, the price that advertisers pay when people click on ads has fallen for a year. This is partly because, while mobile ads are exploding, they cost less than Internet ads; advertisers are still figuring out how to make them most effective." (NY times)
In 2012 Yahoo's new chief, Marissa Mayer, admitted Yahoo had failed to capitalise on mobile and must become a predominantly mobile company. But what does it mean to capitalise on mobile? A quick assessment of key social media players gives a pretty good idea of the value in new technology designed specifically for streamlined mobile computing, where "Facebook is already experimenting with ways to use what it knows about its users to show ads when they are using other mobile apps." (NY times)
Indeed Facebook's acquisition of Instagram in 2012 for $1billion and WhatsApp this year for an extraordinary $19billion is a signal to the growing value in mobile computing. And who can forget Snapchat's rejection of Facebook's $3billion buy out bid, suggesting to the potential game-changers in the mobile computing sphere, traditionally dominated by social media giants Facebook and Twitter. Hot/trending topics for marketing professionals now include Snapchat as a growing rival to Facebook and Twitter in the marketing and advertising streams. The B2C marketing opportunities with Snapchat are very clear- companies are able to organically present themselves where their consumers are, in the much coveted online space where consumers spend the majority of their leisure time.
The rise of mobile computing is happening quicker than predicted, even for tech-giants, but this much is clear: businesses that figure out how to capitalise on the new marketing and advertising opportunities in mobile computing will likely fare better than their competitors.