A short overview of your business's mobile presence options. Summer-style.

1. August, 2011
Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Introduction
Summertime is that time of the year that many
entrepreneurs start thinking about the future of
their business. It allows just for that little more
breathing space to reflect on what’s to come and
where to put your efforts into next.
If this sounds familiar, you might want to
consider the option of bringing your business
into the mobile space. In 2010, the number of
mobile surfers tripled worldwide, a trend that
seems to carry on in 2011. And although mobile
surfers may only still count for 6% of total
traffic, their numbers are growing rapidly,
probably also in your business’ target group.
So let’s discuss your options for a mobile
presence for a while. Summer-style.
Geert De Laet
Technology Evangelist
Bart Verbeeren
Senior Interaction Designer
LUON | www.luon.com 1

2. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Mobile Flavor 1: Stracciatella (aka ‘my-site-with-bits-of-mobile’)
If you already have a deliciously Why go with a tweaked version of your
vanilla flavored desktop website?
website, you could go mobile
pretty easily just by adding or Like stracciatella, it’s an easy choice: it can be
adjusting some bits and pieces. implemented pretty easy into existing sites,
A few tweaks like increasing without a large cost
font size and link areas could already make a
whole lot of difference for a mobile surfer The website’s branding is maintained
visiting your website.
You only have to maintain 1 website
However, in this approach the mobile presence
is a mere carbon-copy of your desktop presence.
And that should never ever be the case. Mobile Why stay away from it?
users have other needs and expectations than
desktop users do. It’s not plain vanilla, but it’s not chocolate
either: it offers a far from ideal experience
Based upon mobile surfing behavior tree to the mobile user
types of mobile users are to be
distinguished: Because all of the assets of the desktop version
remain present, a tweaked design website will
 Repetitive now: users interested in suffer longer download times.
repetitive information that’s available
fast and always like weather reports, The content and navigation (‘information
stock quotes, blog posts, … architecture’) are not optimized for mobile
 Bored now: surfing to kill time: for usage!
example while waiting for the train
 Urgent now: find something specific
fast ‘on the spot’, like the address of a
local restaurant or directions to the
airport
(Source: Google)
LUON | www.luon.com 2

3. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Mobile Flavor 2: Speculoos (aka ‘my-site-with-transformer-capabilities’)
Speculoos flavored ice Why go with responsive design?
cream is kind of the new
kid on the block. It may You can build upon your previous efforts of
not be fully integrated developing your desktop website. Only the
yet, but it has all the presentation of the content will change.
elements needed to
become a true classic. You only have to maintain 1 website.
Which is also the case for ‘responsive design’, Compared to the ‘stracciatella’ option, it offers a
‘adaptive layout’ or whatever name you want to far more user-friendly experience to the
come up with to indicate that your site will user.
magically adapt to the device used to visit it.
Content and navigation flow for the
desktop and mobile versions can differ: It
is possible to for example simplify your
navigation in the mobile version. When of
course content and navigation would be
completely different, you might want to opt for a
dedicated mobile website (see Mobile Flavor 3).
Why stay away from it?
Desktop version of the website.
The new kid on the block is not very much
welcomed by the elders: Older browsers like
Internet Explorer 8 don’t support Media
Queries.
Because all of the assets of the desktop version
remain present, a responsive design website will
suffer longer download times.
Mobile version of the website with altered
layout using responsive design.
To accomplish this, adaptive layout uses a
feature of the latest version of CSS (CSS3), called
‘media queries’, a way to query which kind of
media is connecting to your site in order to offer
the most suitable interface possible.
LUON | www.luon.com 3

4. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Mobile Flavor 3: Chocolate (aka ‘mobile-sweetness-for-the-masses’)
Ah, the sweet taste of Why go with a dedicated mobile site?
chocolate… Such an obvious
favorite. But rightfully so! Compared to a mobile presence based upon your
desktop website (see Mobile Flavors 1 and 2), a
If you want to please the
dedicated mobile site will have a much better
masses, create a decent
performance.
dedicated mobile website. You can select content
relevant on mobile, you can offer it in an Since it was created for mobile, it will be more
optimized navigation structure and perhaps user-friendly on mobile devices
even throw in a couple of mobile-only features.
Being a website, it can be viewed on different
mobile devices (think iPhone, Android
devices, …).
Why stay away from it?
You have to build the dedicated mobile website,
which will lead to a higher development
cost.
You have to maintain an additional website
You can’t make use of all the specific
capabilities of the device like the camera or
accelerometer (which detects the orientation of
the device). A mobile browser can never access
those. So if that’s your game, you’ll have to pick
Mobile Flavor 5 below from our menu…
The LUON dedicated mobile website
LUON | www.luon.com 4

5. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Mobile Flavor 4: Dame Blanche (aka ‘even-more-mobile-sweetness’)
We’re in another ballgame Why go for HTML5/CSS3 web app?
now. We’re not talking one or
two scoops on a cone any Access to more functionalities using HTML5
more. We’re talking full
coupes with warm chocolate Richer user interface using CSS3
sauce and home-made whip
cream. And a cookie. Bigger reach than a native app because it is
browser based
New technologies are arising
to create such full flavor
mobile experiences. HTML5 and CSS3 already Why stay away from it?
allow you to create very rich mobile user
interfaces that mimic a true native app (see Both HTML5 and CSS3 are far from fully
Mobile Flavor 5), but are accessible on different supported by mobile browsers. Before picking
devices through the browser. this flavor, make sure you’ll be able to reach your
Especially for mobile applications, this new way target group.
of working is very promising because it
Although you have more possibilities using
combines the best of both worlds: it offers great
HTML5, you still won’t be able to make use
functionalities (such as working offline) as well
of all the specific device capabilities.
as reach (it can be viewed on iPads, Android
tablets and so on).
Example of an iPhone web app built using HTML5 and CSS3
LUON | www.luon.com 5

6. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Mobile Flavor 5: Banana Split (aka ‘all-the-mobile-goodies-with-sprinkles-on-top’)
So you want to have it all
now, do you? Even the little
cherry on top…
If that’s the case, you should
build your own “native” application. Native
applications are applications that are built
especially for the device they will run on. They
don’t need a browser to run and can access all
the device’s features like camera and GPS.
Mobile applications are mostly offered via one of
the “application supermarkets”. Apple has its
App Store, Google has its Android Market,
Blackberry has its App World. From there,
applications can be downloaded (for free or
paid).
Why go for a native app?
Optimized in terms of speed and performance
You can use all the native device controls
Higher brand visibility:
The ‘spinner’ functionality of the Solo Open
 Your application will be findable in the
application market(s) Kitchen native iPhone app
 Your application will be visible directly on
the desktop of the mobile device
 You can use notifications to establish a Why stay away from it?
frequent contact with the users
High development cost (especially if you
You can charge a little something for your app
want to support a lot of different devices)
Hard to maintain
Design for repeat users
According to a recent usability study by the Third-party approval is required before the
Norman-Nielsen Group, native applications app is available in stores.
work best when they are designed for
customers who are already fans of the brand
and engage with it on a regular basis.
LUON | www.luon.com 6

7. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
So now what’s your flavor? magically find your mobile site or application,
you will have to actively drive traffic to it. Just
There is no right or wrong answer to this like the ice cream man in the street, you too will
question. While Mobile Flavor 1 and Mobile have to make yourself heard. And you too will
Flavor 2 might be quick win strategies, they have to keep track of what happens on your
might not necessarily be the best solution for mobile site to make sure that your mobile
your business, the solution that will guarantee business doesn’t lose its taste of sweetness.
you the highest ROMI (Return On Marketing
Investment). Want to discuss your mobile presence
To find out what is, you’ll have to answer a with us?
couple of questions: LUON has extensive experience in all flavors
of mobile projects through past projects for
What is your target group? clients like Unilever Solo, Ello Mobile,
Try to figure out how ‘mobile’ your target group Sony Ericsson and Acasa Invest.
is. Start with digging up the numbers of mobile
traffic from your web analytics package. But it We can help you figuring out the best
might also be a good idea to do a quick customer approach for your business so that your
survey. investments in the mobile space pay off to the
maximum.
What are your (mobile) goals?
What do you want to accomplish with your Please contact us via glintermans@luon.com
mobile presence? Is it just a matter of ‘being or call +32 478 32 46 00
present’ –in which case a simple mobile website
will probably do- or do you want to offer
something unique for branding or acquisition About LUON
purposes –in which case you’d probably rather
want to create a native app- ? LUON is a customer relationship marketing
agency.
What is your added value in the mobile
space? By developing campaigns and programs based
If you have content that is highly suited for on smart ideas, relevant content and a matching
mobile use, try to leverage on it by offering it in experience, we help brands benefit from a
the best way possible. For example, don’t opt for fruitful relationship with their customers. It's all
Mobile Flavor 1 if you’re a site offering flight a matter of making the right offer at the right
information. Instead think of a dedicated mobile moment in the customer’s lifecycle, across all
website or even a native application. relevant interactive media.
Every project we work on is based on clear and
measurable objectives. Which helps us in our
One more thing… burning ambition to achieve extraordinary
Return On Marketing Investment, together with
Mind you that a mobile presence is no different
great clients such as Unilever, Sony Ericsson,
from any other marketing effort. Above all, it
Vaillant, Tech Data, Thomas Cook, Microsoft,
should fit your global marketing and
Fnac and Ello Mobile.
business strategy. Second, it will need a lot
of effort to make it work. People will not just
LUON | www.luon.com 7

8. Mobile Presence: What’s Your Flavor?
Contact
Geert De Laet
Technology Evangelist
gdelaet@luon.com
@geertdelaet
Gert Lintermans
Client Services Director
glintermans@luon.com
+32 478 32 46 00
LUON
Brusselsesteenweg 560
3090 Overijse
Belgium
T +32 2 686 00 10
info@luon.com
@LUON
http://www.luon.com/
LUON | www.luon.com 8