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Keeping the mobile site competitive

By Nisheeth Mohan

In my August column I talked about the dramatic changes that mobile devices have fomented in the way people access content online -- and the challenges that this raises for you and your development team.

This month, let's look at ways to make sure that your site stays competitive, without breaking the bank.

This summer, end users throughout the world were viewing the 2008 Olympics via video clips on their mobile phones. We monitored the availability and download response times of mobile sites in various parts of the world and observed wide fluctuations in performance.

It was clear that many mobile sites performed differently from one carrier to another on both measurements.

Thus, an end user accessing content via Carrier X might be thoroughly satisfied while his neighbor, using Carrier Y, might not even be able to access the site.

Less easily measured was the end-user satisfaction in the content as rendered on the vast number of devices being used.

As a marketer, you want your mobile sites to be the top performers no matter which carrier -- or which mobile device -- your end user chooses.

Nonetheless, your design and test groups are only human, and your QA budget is not infinite. How do you ensure the best performing content, especially in light of the increasing pace of mobile content revision necessary to support the plethora of available devices?

Development and testing
The challenge of a mobile content development program is how to create and maintain an optimized, bug-free site, and establish benchmarks from which to measure future performance against the huge number of variables in the mobile ecosystem.

A new class of mobile development and debugging product is coming on the market this fall.

Using a desktop model with access to a database of mobile device emulators and design rules, it will provide iterative testing capability and a common environment that can be used by developers, QA, operations and marketers to evaluate a design and communicate their desires and concerns in the critical pre-deployment period.

We all know that devices differ, but you may not be aware of the extent of variance.

Devices differ not only from manufacturer to manufacturer, but also model to model.

For example, the Motorola L6 has three different User Agents. In addition, some devices support only specific image types -- perhaps .jpg but not .gif.

Also, LCD screen sizes -- and they way they render images, especially large images -- is non-standard.

Fast-moving mobile technology requires nimble response to new devices, and carrier and aggregator technology changes.

Few, if any, mobile content developers can afford to keep up on their own. It falls to dedicated test and measurement tool providers who have the business model and resources to create and maintain solutions that offer access to the key components of the mobile ecosystem.

Envision this: access to a comprehensive device emulation library 24x7 from the desktop instead of queuing up for access to commercial device pools, and access on that same desktop through a cloud to multiple carriers at multiple locations throughout the world instead of sending beta versions of the content to individuals throughout the world and waiting for the results.

As a marketer, you know the importance of a competitive edge. The mobile market is maturing and user expectations are increasing.

New and better ways must be developed that will change the way mobile sites are tested -- and at the same time provide for better communication among the content stake-holders in your company.

Desktop tools supported by cloud computing resources can provide a quick and simple solution to the growing challenge of testing regularly updated content over the vagaries of the mobile ecosystem. Faster time to market + more comprehensive testing = competitive edge.

Nisheeth Mohan is product manager for mobile solutions and technology at Keynote Systems Inc., a mobile and Internet test and measurement services provider in San Mateo, CA. Reach him at .