By Luanne Teoh on 10-15-2011

From gaming to browsing to shopping, to paying for your coffee and gaming, the future is indeed in the palm of your hand — in mobile devices.

The complications of flash updates and its unavailability on the iPad is only going to spur further development of HTML5 and browser-based interactions.

When you look at the innovation and business development activities of the big players in the market, it’s not hard to see the direction of the industry as a whole.

1) Google Wallet & Trusted Stores – The recent development of these two massive projects is an indication that Google is planning to dominate the payment space and encourage more shopping through its eCommerce trust mark initiative.

2) Amazon’s Redesign & Tablet – Last month, Amazon confirmed its website redesign targeted at optimizing the browsing experience for the tablet. It also launched the Kindle Fire tablet late in September for a steal at $199.

3) eBay – In April this year, eBay acquired hyper-local ad network WHERE. The strategy is to integrate its PayPal virtual payment service into the WHERE mobile app to boost local deal discovery. eBay’s mobile initiatives generated close to $2 billion in sales last year, nearly triple the $600 million eBay reported in 2009.

4) Gaming Industry – According to MaximumPC and Appmobi, Flash single-handedly set UI design back 5 years. Gaming consoles that ruled the market as recently as 3 years ago are seeing a staggering drop off in sales, as are dedicated console games themselves.

These activities is proof that the big boys and the gaming industry (a $44 billion industry) are betting on mobile — in a big way!

What should your business focus on:

• User Experience (UX and UI) — When redesigning your website, be it a transactional or an informational one, pay attention to all mobile devices and tablets on how your website is presented. The smaller screen means a stronger call to action and clarity is needed to get your message across — Remember that less is more.
• Marketing — Pay attention to Location Based Services (LBS) and Near Field Communications (NFC). LBS allows you to interact and hyper target your offers and promotions to potential customers. NFC allows for contactless payment which creates a seamless experience for your customer.
• Mobile Search Optimization — The limited real estate on a mobile device means identifying more accurate keywords and less on the longtail keywords. Getting in early will help you secure your business on mobile search results. Also remember to create and submit a mobile sitemap and ensure your mobile URLs are viewable on a mobile device (Google does not deliver them in results unless they are compatible with published mobile markup standards such as XHTML Basic 1.1, XHTML MP 1.2 and WML 1.3).

Though complete mobile usage in payment may well be in the near future, the affordability of handsets and tablets will be the drivers of the mobile industry as a whole — so start creating your mobile presence now.

About Luanne Teoh

Luanne is a senior correspondent for BizTechDay focused on Small Business Tech, Mobile and China based in San Francisco. In the last 17 years, she has helped launch start-ups and turned around failing operations. Her international work experience include both public and private corporations in Southeast Asia, Australia and North America. She has previously worked for Oracle Corporation, SonyBMG Music, Universal Music, Catcha Media and SOH Inc. Apart from a keen interest in technology, Luanne is also and avid explorer of the globe, cultures and people.

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