Gomez Inc. has created a unique option for site testing with software that can automatically check entire mobile Web sites for the way they render on a variety of smartphones and browsers.

The service is one part of Gomez's "One Web" performance testing and monitoring capabilities which help site developers and IT teams locate, diagnose and repair application performance issues, mobile specific or otherwise.

"Increasing volumes of businesses are rushing to create mobile-specific web sites and applications in order to get their brands and services in front of the growing mobile audience," said Imad Mouline, chief technology officer of Gomez, Inc, Lexington, Mass.

"But if their brand or a slice of their revenue potential comes from the mobile web, they need to be sure they are delivering the kind of fast, successful and rich mobile web experiences that end-users expect," he said.

Gomez Inc. is a provider of Web application experience management services which businesses employ to test developing Web applications and monitor the applications post-launch.

The cross-browser device testing service by Gomez is automated and available anytime, saving developer time, money and energy. By testing entire Web sites visually, the service is much faster than the traditional manual testing process.

Users enter the starting URL for their site and choose the phones they'd like tested for compatibility and the service quickly sifts through the entire mobile site and generates volumes of screen grabs displaying the format of Web page as it appears on the various smartphones selected.

"Today's smartphones all boast that they deliver full Web experiences thanks to their full HTML browsers so it is a safe to assume that end-users will have similar expectations of the mobile web experience as they do for the traditional Web -- and that the business impact of poor experiences may be comparable," Mr. Mouline said.

Since the system is automated, developers can save time finding and correcting content rendering issues such as missing or misplaced graphics, buttons and text.

Additionally, automating the system reduces, if not negates, the need for in-house testing labs which reduces costs.

The system is currently functional testing the iPhone, Google's Android, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile 6.1 and 5-based smartphones.

"Research has proven that business starts to suffer if a web page takes longer than 5 seconds to load," Mr. Mouline said. "There is a direct impact on conversions, page views and customer satisfaction."

In the first quarter of 2009 over 36.4 million smartphones were sold, a 12.7 percent increase from the same quarter last year, according to Gartner Inc. As smartphone sales go up, so does consumer and enterprise mobile Web usage.

As a consequence, businesses are ensuring their brand and service availability to the growing population of smartphone owners by developing mobile Web sites and applications.

However, the diversity among browsers and devices still affects the way content renders from phone to phone, just as it does on the traditional Web.

Gomez claims that a first impression gone wrong can destroy the relationship between brand and customer.

"Businesses need to be sure they can find and fix performance issues wherever they occur in this chain so that they deliver quality experiences to all customers -- however they access the web," Mr. Mouline said.

"The mobile Web is a reality, and if your business has a mobile presence, then managing the mobile Web experience needs to be a priority," he said.