Imagine that it’s a decade ago. In early 2001, the Verizon Kyocera 6035 powered by the Palm OS was released to the public — the first smartphone ever to have limited web surfing capability. But that vaunted capacity quickly turned out to be…a bit less than what Verizon and Palm had hoped it would be. The Kyocera couldn’t handle pictures, it couldn’t see much of a webpage at a time, and it basically kind of sucked.
But, it’s what we had, and major companies wasted absolutely no time developing a new programming language and several protocols to deal with mobile website design. The theory was simple: KISS. Very basic websites with text, links, and little else, designed to let the mobile surfer do what they needed to without wasting a single byte of data transfer.
Since then, however, we’ve taken massive strides down the path of mobile web browsing. Today, we have 5G networks springing up across the country, mobile devices that don’t have download limits, and offer download speeds to rival most home computers’ internet connections. Furthermore, the graphical abilities of smartphones have exploded as well, with even low-end models able to download and play games hot xxx pics nipples braless pokies that make the GameBoy Advance and the PSP1 jealous.
So what purpose does mobile website design have in a world of wireless gizmos that aren’t limited to the features that mobile website design supports? Why bother creating an entirely new site that will need it’s own support and even it’s own organic SEO if you expect it to get any traffic? The answer, quite simply, is that smartphone penetration is at less than 10%.
What that means is that, of the 300 million people in America, less than 30 million have smartphones. That means that leaving mobile website design this early in the game is basically telling those other 290 million people that you don’t need their money. That’s not the kind of message you want to be saying.
Even today, I meet people who can’t even be bothered to get one of those cheap one-purpose or even pay-per-minute cellphones. These are people who will probably one day give in and purchase a webphone, but they’re not going to shell out for a smartphone in their lifetimes. Don’t give up mobile website design just yet, or you’ll be leaving all of their money on the table.
