In today’s Wall Street Journal, the article Squeezing Web Sites Onto Cellphones captures one of the biggest questions being bandied about in marketing organizations the world over - how much, or how little do customers want and need via their cell phones? And perhaps the even messier question – how on earth does one go about catering to and developing for the multitude of different devices?
The stats do speak for themselves – by the end of 2011 174 million people will be accessing social media from their mobile devices. 67% of people already work wirelessly to get their jobs done. We're all spending growing amounts of time interacting with our "community"—however we define it—and creating lots of content via our smart phones. As a result businesses large and small must determine how to best serve our evolving needs.
Delivering a rich mobile experience really boils down to two approaches – a thin, basic application that stretches across a multitude of platforms, or a more robust approach, developing rich experiences that tap into the benefits and unique offerings of each device and platform.
As I mentioned in the article, Jive truly believes the magic happens when you're able to go deep with functionality. Does it take longer to develop? Of course. But just ask our customers: it’s worth the wait. Take for example our recent launch of Jive SBS for the iPhone. Because we developed a native application, we deliver a gorgeous interface that takes full advantage of the iPhone, giving users the ability to publish blogs, upload photos, find people easily within Jive, and publish updates with geo-location.
But don’t worry, we’re not stopping there. 2010 will be another year of jaw dropping innovation for Jive, so get ready to be wowed.
