Dictionary.com has reached 10 million mobile downloads in a little over a year, with 6.5 million for the iPhone and 100,000 for the iPad.

Dictionary.com has various mobile applications for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry and Andriod. Dictionary.com uses a single Application Programming Interface to power many of these mobile applications to leverage its offerings of definitions and etymologies to enhance word games and create learning language applications and other word-related features for online, mobile and wireless environments.

Mobile Marketer?s Courtney Muir interviewed Shravan Goli, president of Dictionary.com, Oakland, CA.

Here is what he had to say:

How did you drive these downloads?
Dictionary.com is the most trusted and comprehensive source for words anywhere, anytime.

Each month Dictionary.com reaches more than 50 million users worldwide in every age group ranging from 5-50 years old. 

Due to our position of leadership online and the fact that we have been offering this service for more than 10 years, the Dictionary.com brand is recognized worldwide.

Consequently, consumers recognize the Dictionary.com brand on mobile and eReaders by themselves.

As such, we have done no marketing for mobile except for featuring the applications on the Dictionary.com site ? growth has been primarily driven by word of mouth and organic brand recognition.

Also, the applications have been rated four stars or higher, have received thousands of positive comments and user reviews, and have been featured on the iTunes store, Android market place and BlackBerry App world several times.

Dictionary.com applications have consistently maintained high rankings (either the top or within top 10) among the reference applications. We are very proud of the content and experience we offer to our users.

What does this say about the potential of mobile applications?
We've seen tremendous growth in the mobile space over the past year.

For so many services - particularly those in which you need information in the moment - a mobile application is the ideal platform.

We believe that the popularity of Dictionary.com shows the real power of being able to access information in the moment.

When you need a word definition, you need it right then, not later that evening. Beyond convenience, we believe this enhances the entire learning experience.

You remember things better when you learn them in context. So, the potential for mobile applications is unlimited, and we believe we'll particularly see tremendous growth in popularity and use of applications that have an educational flair. 

What?s your mobile strategy?
Dictionary.com's mobile strategy is to make it the most trusted, comprehensive source for word discovery that is accessible anytime, anywhere and across all mobile, eReader and connected devices. This lets people enhance their professional, social and academic lives with the ability to accurately define, pronounce and apply words the moment they need to.

In addition, we are empowering the developer community with our open API to leverage Dictionary.com's comprehensive offerings such as definitions, synonyms, spelling suggestions and word origins to enhance word games, create learning language applications and other word-related applications on these platforms.

What else are you doing in the mobile space?
Dictionary.com applications are currently available across iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and iPad platforms and devices.

In addition, our iPhone offerings include word games for education and fun such as: ?Agent X Word ? Cross Word Solver? and ?Miss Spell?s Class.?

Dictionary.com also has http://m.dictionary.com for a mobile browser-based experience. Our Word of the Day feature is offered via SMS notifications.

Additionally, our open API is used by developers to power the reference needs of numerous applications and is used to create various built-in white label applications.

For example, Samsung has built the downloadable reference app for their Omnia II mobile phones.

I noticed the site is ad supported, who serves the ads?
Dictionary.com offers ads through our direct sales force and we also work with a few ad networks for the remnant inventory. It is similar on the mobile front.

One of the challenges in the App Store is discoverability? How do you overcome this challenge?
Great question ? I agree that the discoverability is an issue. We have relied heavily on our ?brand equity? and focused on delivering a great consumer experience which has led to word of mouth and organic discovery.

As a result, our users have given our applications high-star ratings and very positive reviews across all platforms.

Mobile is our fastest growing segment. We are also discovering that the engagement is fairly high, and we attribute this to the fact that it is accessible anywhere and very easy to use with great user interface.

Specifically, user engagement is two to three times more than the online site.

Time spent and usage frequency is also two to three times more than the online site.