Evan Gerber is speaking on the mobile enterprise (from Molecular). Main point: mobile technologies are getting to the point of being able to be used for lots of things in the business, but there are still a lot of things to get done.

Mobile phones … have become central to many of day-to-day life activities.

Agenda:
– mobile landscape (user, carrier, marketer, device)
– findings and lessons
– questions and answers

The Mobile Landscape
In the US:
– 7/10 US adults have a mobile phone; 1 in 7 use it exclusively
– 88.4 million US households have at least one phone
– 33% of users send and receive SMS messages
– 30% of US adults have a web-enabled phone

User sophistication is a barrier to adoption.
– people don’t know what their phones can do, eg, web-enabled
– poor design inhibits usage, eg, 19% think that menu options are consumer friendly enough

The carriers:
– consumers don’t like or trust the carriers. They switch plans quickly. No brand loyalty.
– carrier response: unlimited plans. This changes the rules of the game.
– have to be able to work with consumers through lots of different phones and platforms.
– carriers want to retain control … no net neutrality
– big brand companies often have to bow to the demands of carriers.
– Google Android will start big changes.
– Another big change is Google’s lobbying of the FCC about White Space (device to device networking, over the Internet)
– (Evan recommends NetBiscuits for pushing out content.)
– Main idea: data is clearly becoming king.

The marketers:
– major brands are adopting and pushing forward in many verticals
– eg, consumer brands
– eg, online banking on iPhone, BlackBerry, and others
– eg, travel bookings
– eg, social networking on mobile devices

The devices:
– devices are changing rapidly … eg, from the Motorola brick to the Apple iPhone. The iPhone has really changed the game. It’s a fashion assessory, it’s an all purpose digital accessory, and an extension of their persona.
– on the Android … rumor is that HTC will be making multiple phones for the Android platform, and Google is throwing a lot of money at it.
– the phone has to succeed, the user experience has to be very compelling.

User Centric Mobile Device
Designing an application for mobile devices:
– there are different behaviors within groups, eg, by ethnicity, by income
– ensure that the audience you target users for use the device in the way you think they will
– catalog the carriers that are being used
– looks at the plans and usage they are putting it to … eg, email, browsing the Web, and SMS
– how sophisticated are the devices?
– key idea … optimizing for smaller screen, including content and visual design. Eg, use cues to show people that there is more to scroll.
– the entry of content and data manipulation is much more difficult … tough to type
– where are people using their devices? Eg, sporadic connectivity, people working around with the device
– how do we make people feel safe with doing web things on their devices? Where is the data being stored?
– applications can drain a lot of battery power quickly.
– minimizing data back-and-forth is a key issue.

Design ideas:
– use screen constructs that people are used to. Eg, icons, menus, logical navigation
– don’t just try to minimize applications … need to re-think it for the mobile user.
– (see Cameron Moll’s book on designing for mobile devices).
– testing applications for mobile … take lots of phones and power charges, video the phone and the user’s face, test early and often.
– teens as testers are an interesting group.
– people want to control their devices, eg, personalize them.
– the learning curve is very steep
– small screens are really hard to use.

Summary
– lots going on in mobile
– ecosystem can be very complicated
– there’s a lot of opportunity