The new iPhone 4S will have the updated iOS software, a better and faster camera, a more powerful processor and gaming capabilities, and the device supports both GSM and CDMA and an antenna that reportedly competes with 4G. Those changes only seem incremental from the iPhone 4. Apple hopes people will break contract for the Siri application that will be included with the iPhone 4S.

Siri started out as a standalone, speech-recognition app. Apple bought Siri and it will now be the heart of a new iPhone interface that aims to provide a completely frictionless user experience: Tell your phone to do something and it will follow your command.

If Siri works as well as it did during the demonstration, it could possibly change the way we perceive what a phone is. Here is what happened on Tuesday when senior VP of iPhone software Scott Forstall did a four-step vocal show-and-tell with an iPhone 4S (paraphrased here):

• Forstall told Siri to, “Read my messages,” and the phone read back a SMS (from Phil Schiller) that asked if he wanted to do lunch on Friday.
• Forstall asked Siri if he had any appointments Friday at noon, and Siri brought up the calendar and said something like, “Your schedule looks empty Friday at noon.”
• Forstall asked Siri to text back to Schiller, “I can do Friday…”
• Forstall says, “Schedule a lunch Friday at noon with Phil Schiller,” and Siri responds in the affirmative to these commands.

Siri has the potential to change the way we use our phones forever. With its intuitive nature, forgetting/missing appointments, scrolling through your playlist for the perfect traveling music and texting at red lights will be a thing of the past.

After using Siri, it would be a shame to dilute the user experience with the absence of a mobile site. Have you made your site mobile friendly?

Marion can help. We will transform your current site into a fully functional mobile friendly version that people can access anywhere and with any smart phone.

On behalf of all the “Macs,” our condolences go out to the friends, family and fans of Steve Jobs. May he rest in peace.

The Pew Internet & American Life Project has just released a new study that shows 35% Americans now own smartphones. That means more Americans own a smartphone than hold a bachelor’s degree.

The statistics only get more interesting from there: of those that own smartphones, 87% said that they use it for email or to browse the internet.  68% said that in a typical day they use their smartphones to access the web.  And fully one quarter of those surveyed said that they access the internet mostly on their smartphones. That’s right, for 25% of Americans, the smartphone has essentially replaced the personal computer.

Obviously smartphones have become a huge part of our society in a relatively short time which means that having an easily browsable, functioning mobile site is more important than ever.  If your business doesn’t have a mobile site, your competitors could be scooping up those 25% of customers who exclusively use mobile devices to research products and services, read reviews and make purchases.

Keep the following in mind when designing your mobile site:

• Content should be simple and to the point (i.e. location, hours, contact info)
• Graphics and animation should be minimal (so the site loads quickly)
• Side scroll bars should be avoided whenever possible (difficult to navigate with touchscreen)

Contact the mobile web design experts at Marion to learn more. We’ve created numerous mobile sites and can give you expert advice on how to make the mobile web work for you.

Smartphone Demographics:

BlackBerry: The typical user is a “salt-and-pepper” businessman who uses the phone primarily for email and messaging. He doesn’t surf the web much and doesn’t use many apps, save a few utility programs.

iPhone: Tech-obsessed, wealthy (highest percentage of users rake in more than $100,000), less likely to have kids (62% don’t) and are an active bunch.

Android: It’s growing fast, so these stats can change, but for now, it’s a phone for geeks – 73% of its users are male and 33% are single.

Palm: Most popular with older users who advertisers assume were fans of the old Palm Pilot – but there are fewer and fewer of them. Its smartphone market fell from 8.3% to 6.1% from September to December 2009.

Smartphone technology is continuing to expand by the day, so it’s important to develop and implement your mobile strategy to reach your target audience, but remain flexible to meet the ever-changing technology.

Mobile Web Design

Every company should have a mobile website. People are beginning to expect information to be instantly at their fingertips, and having a mobile website can give your audience the information they want and help you gain the leading edge over your competition.

The Marion Group can provide your company with custom mobile web design that allows your new mobile website to have the same look and feel of your “regular” site. However, in certain ways, your new mobile website should be different than your regular website.

The most obvious difference between your regular site and your mobile site is that your mobile site should be “skinny” – minimal images, only necessary content, the quickest and easiest way to contact you and maybe a map of your location, if it will benefit the user. By keeping your mobile site “skinny” and pared down, you can decrease the load time of your site on the user’s mobile device, creating faster access to your information, and making the information easier to locate on a teeny-tiny screen.

Advantages to having a mobile website:*

1. Mobile websites can work on 100% of mobile devices that have browsers, allowing you to reach a broader audience
2. The user experience can be optimized to highlight your common denominator
3. You can publish content when you want – no approval is needed from the manufacturer app store
4. It doesn’t require your customer to download a new version every time you update the site (like a mobile app does)
5. It can be cheaper to develop because you don’t need to port it across different operating systems
6. Marion can gather metrics regarding visitors to your mobile site and determine your return on investment (ROI) on your mobile efforts

Mobile App Development

Mobile apps aren’t for every company, but under the right circumstances, a mobile app can be an excellent supplemental effort to your mobile strategy. A mobile app can give your customer a richer experience than your mobile web site could ever provide.

And that brings up an important fact: your mobile app should not be a repeat of your mobile site, but, again, it should have the same “look and feel” as your other marketing efforts.

Advantages to having a mobile app:*

1. Mobile apps allow you to build a richer experience for your customer without affecting data speeds
2. Mobile apps can take advantage of your phone’s features like GPS, camera and voice
3. When self-contained, mobile apps can work offline when the user is not connected to the mobile Web
4. Mobile apps are relatively inexpensive to build and maintain, given only one operating system is involved
5. Mobile apps can become an extension of your brand

For more information on how The Marion Group can assist your company in developing a mobile marketing strategy, building a mobile website or creating a mobile app, give us a call at 713.623.6444 or email us at info2@marion.com.

* MobileMarketer.com and Lenati.com