tablets | Internet Marketing Blog

Conversion rates from tablets are four times higher than smartphones: stats

Throughout 2012 we’ve seen numerous studies that highlight the massive difference between shopping behaviours on tablet and smartphones.

The usability of each device should make this obvious, yet they were often – and occasionally still are – lumped together in the mobile category when comparing sales and traffic stats to desktop computers.

This is despite the fact that data published by Adobe in May shows that one tablet generates as many website visits as four smartphones.

By the end of Q1 2012 smartphones accounted for 6.1% of site visits compared to 4.3% on tablet.

However, smartphones only maintain a greater share of website visits due to the lower penetration rate of tablets, with 5x more smartphones shipped across North America and Western Europe compared to tablets.

by David Moth 19 December 2012 10:28am 4 comments

What were the top trends in mobile in 2012?

Was 2012 the year of mobile? No, and in reality trying to say that any 12 month period can be heralded as the 'year of mobile' is nonsense in an industry that is already well established yet also constantly evolving.

But that doesn't mean there haven't been any important trends and innovations in the mobile industry this year.

For example, we've seen more brands start to realise the importance of operating a mobile optimised site, a growing awareness that tablets are a vital part of ecommerce and a move towards embracing responsive design, particularly among publishers.

To shed more light on the most important mobile trends from 2012 and do a bit of future gazing to next year, I spoke to several mobile industry experts...

by David Moth 14 December 2012 10:37am 0 comments

The Daily learns that tablet-only isn't a publishing strategy

Mobile-first, or web-first? Neither alone is a real strategy for success.

For Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., learning that has proved to be an expensive experience as the media giant has decided to abandon its iPad-only publication, The Daily, after less than two years.

by Patricio Robles 04 December 2012 15:09pm 2 comments

29% of UK smartphone owners have made a purchase using the mobile web

A new survey has found that the use of m-commerce has remained relatively stable in the past 12 months, suggesting that it’s failing to catch on with consumers.

Orange’s Exposure report found that 29% of smartphone owners had purchased an item using the mobile web in the past six months, compared to 24% in 2011.

This is despite the fact that smartphone ownership has increased from 41% to 49%, which you would think meant that people are becoming more comfortable with the technology.

A previous survey from Webcredible found that security concerns are one of the main barriers to m-commerce, and Orange’s survey seems to back that up.

by David Moth 29 November 2012 09:49am 1 comment

Six reasons content marketers need to think mobile

The world has fallen in love with their smart phones and tablets. People talk about having an emotional connection with their devices. The iphone 5 promo video described it as a “unique relationship”.

Keith Nation from ORM London says this is because: “They are always on you and they are always on”. American advertising consultant Cindy Gallop said at a recent Guardian marketing summit that: “People turn on their phones all the time to get little pellets of love. They want to see that people want to be in touch with them”.

Our appetite for all things mobile is insatiable. Technology research firm Gartner estimates that 70% of devices sold worldwide in 2012 will be "smart devices" (smartphones and tablets). It predicts a total of 1.2bn smartphones and tablets could be sold worldwide in 2013 and forecasts a staggering 39 million to be sold by 2016.

by Juliet Stott 13 November 2012 10:39am 2 comments

More companies are designing their sites for tablet and mobile: stats

More companies are responding to mobile trends and designing websites for phones and tablets, but many are still not even testing how their sites look on mobile devices.

According to our fourth annual Conversion Rate Optimization Report, produced in association with RedEye, the proportion of organisations designing their websites specifically for mobile phones has increased from 25% to 35% since 2011.

However, the majority of organisations are still not designing their websites (61%) or conducting usability testing (55%) specifically for either mobile phones or tablets.

by Graham Charlton 06 November 2012 10:42am 2 comments

Amazon uses homepage to diss iPad mini

The $329 iPad mini may be selling like hotcakes, but that isn't fazing one of Apple's biggest competitors in the tablet market. According to Amazon, the Kindle Fire HD has not only survived the launch of a smaller, cheaper iPad, it's actually thriving.

That may suggest that the iPad mini and Kindle Fire HD aren't really competing with each other, but don't tell that to Amazon. The online retail giant thinks that the iPad mini is a juicy target and is using its homepage to prove the point.

by Patricio Robles 30 October 2012 12:27pm 5 comments

Designing for the iPad Mini: best practice tips

The new iPad Mini presents another set of problems for websites looking to appeal to mobile /tablet users, as it's a new screen size between iPad and smartphone.

Having been released in time for Christmas, it's likely to sell like hotcakes, so the number of potential users means companies need to consider how they will adapt their websites for the device.

It's a challenge, since existing mobile or desktop sites won't necessarily adapt well to the screen size. It may be too small for desktop, yet too large for mobile sites.

I've been speaking to James Sherrett from Mobify, who has some suggestions on early best practices for iPad Mini design...

by Graham Charlton 25 October 2012 10:17am 5 comments

This week's top six infographics

Here are six of the best infographics we've seen this week.

This time the topics include iPad Mini rumours, anticipating how consumers will spend the holiday season, how kids use tablets, Halloween spending in the US and tag management systems

by David Moth 19 October 2012 10:22am 0 comments

Replicate or re-design? How do you take a magazine online?

A year ago when we were researching the UK magazine market in an effort to assess the enthusiasm, or otherwise, of publishers for having tablet editions we concluded that they still had some doubts about whether they needed to have App editions of their titles or not.

Fast forward one year and, with the introduction of the Apple Newsstand, the majority of publishers are now aware that in order to survive the tablet and online revolution, they need to have a digital presence.

The question they now ask themselves is should they dive straight in or just dip their toe in the water?

So replicate or re-design? There are potentially pros and cons for both. And exactly how will digital readership generate revenue?

by Colin Bennett 11 September 2012 11:52am 1 comment