NEW YORK ? With each passing day, more sophisticated devices and delivery forms enable better mobile content publishing and advertising. However, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy.

According to panelists at the Publishing Business Conference & Expo's Mobile Strategy Summit for Magazine Publishers, devices such as smartphones and tablets are changing consumer content consumption behavior. The ?Overview of the Mobile Market? panel was moderated by Mickey Alam Khan, editor in chief of Mobile Marketer, New York.

?The keyword is mobile,? said Frank Luby, partner at Simon-Kucher & Partners, Boston. ?People are willing to make a lot of tradeoffs and sacrifice a lot of things for that portability.

?We have to think about how we offset some of these tradeoffs and how can we make it even better and more enjoyable for consumers,? he said. ?Those intangible benefits show that we?re willing to pay more money access, choice and the peace of mind that I have a device that is dependable.?

The day-long mobile segment of the Publishing Business Conference & Expo was attended by 100 executives. North American Publishing Co.'s Book Business and Publishing Executive magazines organized the annual event under the editorial lead of editorial director Noelle Skodzinski.

Mobile opportunity
Many publishers see the opportunity that mobile presents.

More companies are branching out into the mobile space, whether it be via a smartphone application, mobile site or apps for tablet devices such as the iPad.

The media industry is quickly moving from online consumption to mobile.

?2010 was definitely the year of mobile,? said Sarah Wagman Ellenbogen, strategic partnership and development manager at Google Inc., Mountain View, CA. ?The usage is increasing and people are using phones for a lot more than just talking.?

According to Ms. Ellenbogen, there are three ways to monetize mobile ? transactions, subscriptions and advertising.

?It?s about figuring out what works best for your content and that distribution,? Ms. Ellenbogen said. ?I want to consume content in different ways.?

Content
Ms. Ellenbogen gave an example with regard to the OpenTable application. If she were to make a reservation in advance, she would use her tablet device, but if it was a spur of the moment thing, she would use her mobile phone.

You should survey and find out who your users are and what they?re doing,? Ms. Ellenbogen said. ?We?re very focused on native apps, but what about the mobile Web?

?That should be your first step,? she said. ?Have a mobile site so that you can access it from anywhere."

According to Cheryl Goodman, director of marketing at Qualcomm MEMS Technologies, San Diego, there is a huge paradigm shift from online consumption to mobile.

?There?s going to be multiple form factors with multiple screen sizes,? Ms. Goodman said. ?But the ultimate goal is to just carry one device that?s not only portable, but that you can also read on.

?On the content side, there certainly needs to be a better monitary structure,? she said.

The executive also said that there need to be better solutions in place for batteries. 

?The more data and content that we push, the more strain that we put on the battery,? Ms. Goodman said.

Future of mobile
Jared Cocken, creative director at Wonderfactory, believes that tablets are replacing laptops and the way that consumers consume all of their photos and news content. 

?There is a huge shift from laptops to mobile and tablets,? Mr. Cocken said. ?It?s about advertising the actual experience and the production that you have to go through to get them.?

According to Mr. Cocken, there is a massive production problem associated with getting content from desktop form to mobile form.

There are still problems with fragmentation.

Many publishers are putting the same content they have on print on tablet devices, but many consumers want something different ? additional features they cannot get in a static magazine.

?Taking the print and copying it across, sure, there is an audience that wants that experience,? Mr. Cocken said. ?But there?s also a different audience that wants a different experience.

?You have to see what the consumer wants and go from there,? he said. 

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Marketer, New York