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Archive for the ‘Content’ Category

goMobi Challenge — Extended and iPadded!

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

The goMobi Challenge is on now!

Given that it’s been a very hot summer this year, we decided everyone needed a few days to regroup for the goMobi Challenge.
Since we want to see just how personalized you can make a goMobi site, we’re giving you a little extra time to show us your stuff. We’ve extended the contest through October 17, 2010.

And along with the first-prize package of 100 one-year subscriptions to the goMobi product and highlighting you and your winning entry via an international press release, we’re giving the winner a 16 GB, WiFi-enabled iPad (all the better for looking at mobile websites).

But time is still short, so get going now.

The goMobi Challenge is on!

Friday, July 30th, 2010

We’ve got a prize-winning contest for you: The goMobi Challenge is on now!

By now, you’ve heard us talk about goMobi, our new mobile site building and content management tool. While we’ve discussed it mainly as an easy way for non-tech folks to quickly build mobile sites, we designed it so that Web developer and designer pros can use it as a base for building top-notch mobile sites as personalized and unique as you — or your clients — want.

We want to see just how personalized and unique you can make a goMobi site. And that’s why we’ve created a special contest: the goMobi Challenge. The basics are simple. Register for a free test site at http://cp.gomobi.info/gomobi_challenge. Then check out our mobiForge article on using the many developer-specific tools included with each goMobi account. And build away! Build a site for a business — even your own — or a band or club or … Well, you get the idea. We want to see your creativity in using goMobi to create unique sites.

When you’re done, just visit our goMobi Facebook page (http://facebook.com/gomobi) to submit your entry.

“What do I win?”

If you’re the winner, you’ll receive a first-prize package consisting of 100 one-year subscriptions to the goMobi product plus we’ll highlight you and your winning entry via an international press release to help you gain more clients.

Contest submissions will be accepted through 15 September 2010. You can see the full list of rules and disclaimers at http://facebook.com/gomobi.

Now, get going and goMobi!

Meet goMobi, our new product for SMBs, Web designers and developers

Monday, June 21st, 2010

goMobi LogoAs you likely saw earlier today, dotMobi has launched a new product: goMobi. While our Instant Mobilizer product served a specific niche in transforming existing content, goMobi is a major leap in capabilities — and possibilities.

goMobi is more than a mobile site builder or content management system. It’s a hybrid of the two that addresses the content gap on the mobile Web.

Content gap?

In the past few years, there’s been significant progress in mobile technology, particularly with smarter handsets and faster networks. Content, the third leg of the “mobile stool” — along with handsets and networks — has not kept up with innovations. goMobi addresses this gap by understanding that good content is about experience. A good experience is about relevance. Most mobile sites currently mistake “Mobile Relevance” for the same as “Desktop Relevance,” only smaller. goMobi corrects that assumption.

As we’ve often said, dotMobi believes that the mobile Web is nothing like the desktop Web, and should not be modeled after it. In that way, for instance, we have a similar attitude as Apple does towards the iPad and its standard Macintosh computers.

goMobi Mobile Site

goMobi Mobile Site, built using dotMobi's new goMobi product.

The mobile interface should be about what the mobile user may want to do, and should be individualized to achieve the best possible experience for each customer.

goMobi meets those needs by delivering the first truly usable content mobilization platform. goMobi is:

  • A hybrid between a traditional content management system and a mobile Web site builder,
  • A hybrid between the desktop Web experience and the client-side smartphone experience,
  • A hybrid of a rich set of mobile capabilities with a practically automatic, “non-techie” interface.

The end result for an SMB is the opportunity to create and grow a mobile presence without needing to be knowledgeable about latest trends or technology. goMobi takes care of that.

The end result for the mobile Web user is accessing a Web site that gives you the ability to do exactly what you want to do — quickly, easily and completely.

One of the things I’m especially excited about is that the goMobi platform has been designed for quick extensibility, meaning that new features and options will be coming on a regular basis as users find new ways for goMobi to promote their businesses. It also means goMobi is “future proof” as a platform.

If you’ve been waiting to build you mobile website, now’s the time to jump in. The control panel you use to build your mobile site is easy — and, dare I say, fun — to use. The site you create will look terrific, no matter what phone you’re using to access it; goMobi sites make every phone act like a smartphone with clean icons and text indicators … and all with no special effort on your part.

We have a raft of information on our new product Web site, and even a new Facebook page so you can give goMobi your own “Thumbs Up!”

Well, **is** the iPad a mobile device … ?

Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

Hero4_20100127 Right after Apple's big iPad announcement on January 27, the thoughtful MobileTech blog asked, "Is the iPad a mobile device like any other mobile phone in terms of browsing?" … meaning, of course, is there still a need for mobile-optimized sites? 

Well, yes. (Did you expect me to say otherwise?)

No matter how sophisticated the device — iPad or otherwise — .mobi and mobile-optimized sites are about the mobile context, not about the device calling for the content. For those of you on an iPhone or an Android device or a Blackberry, you know that the best apps present information in a way that makes sense for how you use the input mechanisms (e.g., touchscreen vs. mouse & keyboard) and is relevant for you on the go (e.g., Target's mobile gift card and not Target's share price or corporate governance). That won't (and shouldn't) change if I'm on an iPod Touch, an iPhone or an iPad … or my low-end Sony Ericsson or old, but still Internet ready, Motorola Razr. Or if I have a device-specific app on my phone or if I'm looking at a mobile-optimized site.

Specific to the iPad, though, I think its reason for being is for Apple to own the digital book space the way it owns the digital music space. I doubt it's meant to be thought of as a mobile device, well not anymore so than a physical book is a mobile device. Sure you can bring it with you, but can you make a phone call or take a photo on it?

One of the more interesting thoughts I saw about the iPad was to position it as a micro-computer for senior citizens who might need email or a way to see photos of the grandkids, but not a whole lot more. In short, the exact opposite of an intentionally mobile device. 

What I think will be most interesting is to watch the evolution of the iPhone once we see how the iPad is received in the marketplace. I'm also very excited to see how it changes the idea of publishing. For many years, we've heard about interactive books. Now there's a platform that will likely have a large enough audience to make that idea a reality. Or with magazines, now they can affordably publish one-off articles rather than being bound (literally) to publishing heavy monthly volumes.

Of course, this is all speculation. We'll see in 2Q10 how the iPad is received once it's in users' hands.

Welcome to 2010!

Thursday, January 7th, 2010

It's a new year with new challenges but also some surprises … like subwayfreshbuzz.mobi, the mobile site of Subway sandwiches (USA). Here's a photo from their PC Web site promoting it:

Subwayfreshbuzz.mobi
  

The site has a restaurant locator with map as well as a menu … and, after all, what else do you need from Subway?

By the way, Trey Harvin — dotMobi's CEO — wrote an interesting piece on the importance of content in the mobile ecosystem that was just published by Tech News World. I hope you'll find it interesting as well.

NV.mobi Keeps On Going Strong

Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009

DSC_0681

Our friends at the Nevada Commission on Tourism just sent us a cool group of photos, showing the promotion they're doing for http://nv.mobi in the Embarcadero BART station in San Francisco. (An earlier report of these photos as being in Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport were erroneous.)

You can see the full photostream on flickr.

A couple of interesting sites

Monday, June 15th, 2009

LACandy 1. icann.mobi — If you're heading down to ICANN's meeting in Sydney, Australia, next week, you'll want to bookmark icann.mobi. The site has the complete meeting schedule for the event as well as information on how to get around Sydney and where you can have dinner and drinks. All phone numbers are click-to-call links, so it's easy to make reservations or call a taxi.

2. lacandy.mobi – Even if you've never watched Laguna Beach or The Hills, you've likely heard the name Lauren Conrad (a/k/a/ "LC"). On 16 June, she's releasing a book called L.A. Candy and — as part of the launch — she's also launching a .mobi site: lacandy.mobi. You can find out plenty — maybe more than you wanted — about L.A. Candy at the site. And if you haven't yet "met" Lauren, you can catch up with what you've missed at the site.  

13th Annual Webby Awards: more .mobi than ever.

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

Webby Awards Logo This week, the winners of the 13th annual Webby Awards were announced. In the mobile division — of which dotMobi was the founding sponsor way back at the dawn of the mobile Web revolution — there were several .mobi winners:

The Best Use of GPS or Location Technology award went to Adidas Marathon Run Tracker at http://marathon.marvellous.mobi. The Mobile Entertainment award went to Discovery Mobile at http://discovery.mlogic.mobi. The Mobile Sports award winner and People's Voice award winner went to ESPN Mobile at http://espn.mobi.

Also nominated for Integrated Mobile Experience was Virgin Atlantic's Love from Above campaign (now retired but formerly at lovefromabove.mobi) and for Listings & Updates was previous award winner ZAGAT.mobi (which you can easily find at http://zagat.mobi). 

Several other .mobi sites were named as honorees, including:
An application we've previously mentioned from mobiSiteGalore.mobi, which allows mobile users to build a mobile-ready site directly from their phones, was also cited as one of the Webby Awards' honorees.

In all, this represents a very strong showing from .mobi users as well as representing a broad swath of uses of the .mobi domain — and is definitely a big step forward from the minimal number of mobile categories (and sites) that we saw only three years ago.

If you're interested, you can see the full list of mobile nominees and winners at the Webby Awards Web site.

dotMobi’s WordPress Mobile Pack Now Live

Monday, May 4th, 2009

This past week, dotMobi released a new, free product: the WordPress Mobile Pack — a plug-in for WordPress users to automatically generate a mobile version of their WordPress site.

We've had requests for this for a long time and we're very happy that we're finally able to make it available. 

Approximately 2% of all Web sites are run on WordPress. There have been more than 4.5 million downloads of the software in the last six months alone. As you can see, the need for a WordPress mobile solution is a big one.

What does the WordPress Mobile Pack contain?:
  •  Mobile
    switcher to detect mobile visitors and provide an appropriate experience
  •  Base mobile
    theme for quick-and-easy XHTML-Mobile Profile compliance
  •  Extended
    mobile themes so you can unleash your mobile creativity
  •  Integration with the award-wining DeviceAtlas(TM) for world-class mobile adaptation
  •  Mobile administration panel for when posts can't wait
  •  Mobile ad
    widget to make you some money
  •  Barcode
    widget to help users bookmark your blog

If you run a WordPress site, you'll likely find this pack worthwhile. Critics think so, too.

Full information on the WordPress Mobile Pack is on mobiForge.com.

Mobile Banking Benchmarks Now Available

Friday, May 1st, 2009

If you've been following our news on the mobile benchmarks we've developed with our friends at Gomez, you'll be interested in seeing our mobile banking benchmarks that American Banker just ran.

The banking industry has proven to be especially fast in picking up on mobility in general, and on .mobi specifically. These benchmarks will definitely prove to be interesting as they're released on a monthly basis.

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