What do you use on your mobile device? Internet sites designed for the PC screen or mobile Web sites?

It’s one of the big questions in mobile today and a topic that Matt Marshall of VentureBeat just tackled in a column comparing the mobile strategies of Google and Apple. Both Google and Apple, as well as AdMob, obviously have a vested interest in the outcome. But we believe that the decision won’t be made by any one company, instead will be made by consumers and they are voting with their fingertips.

The distinct and real differences in both mobile technology and how consumers use it require distinctly different user experiences. More advanced devices like iPhone and Android have come up with innovative ways to enable consumers to view full HTML Web sites on their phones.  But just because they can, does not mean they are. We are seeing an increasing number of publishers create unique mobile experiences, both mobile Web sites and mobile applications, for consumers. And they are seeing much higher engagement rates from consumers on mobile devices through their mobile sites and applications than on their HTML sites.

A great example of this is mobile Web site and application that CBS Sports created. The above left image shows what their HTML site looks like on an iPhone, the middle image is of their mobile Web site and the right is of their iPhone application. In Matt Marshall’s column he quotes CBS as saying they are getting “five to ten times” the level of engagement by users in their iPhone application. Consumers are flocking to the best user experience.

Today mobile devices, even though they are not as big or powerful as the average PC, give consumers the ability to accomplish all but the most work-specific tasks such as creating a presentation or spreadsheet. This is thanks in large part to Apple, but also to Google, RIM, and other device manufacturers who are investing heavily in scalable Web service and application frameworks for their mobile device Operating Systems (OSs).

Some of the elements of the existing Web will give consumers the sufficiently high quality experience they are looking for on mobile, search being a good example. But the differences in the technical capabilities of a mobile device as compared to a PC are real. This includes the obvious elements such as the size of the device screen and keys, the connection speed, and user interface as well as the software they support. One prime example is Flash.  While Flash is very commonly used on sites designed for the PC Internet it does not work, either natively or within the browsers, on most mobile phones.

The other real element is how consumers use and interact with their mobile devices. At AdMob, we’ve discovered that users, in general, are looking for a specific piece of information or to entertain themselves by killing a few minutes when they’re on their mobile device. There is also the real fact that most consumers won’t spend time filling out forms on mobile, while it’s very common on the PC Web.  That modality is quite different than the one that I observed in previous lives as a product manager working on desktop-oriented web products, and my belief is that distinction in modalities will actually grow over time, even if mobile devices become more powerful and PC-like in other respects.

Take a quick walk down memory lane, and there are other trends that have followed similar patterns. The iPod is a great example.  While it came late to the digital music scene, the power that its mobility and convenience provided ended up dominating how not only music, but also video, is now consumed both on mobile devices and, eventually, the desktop.  It’s an exciting evolutionary marker of what may be to come on mobile devices, as well as the influence mobile devices will have on our desktop experience.  And I personally feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to witness and participate in such a seismic period in our technology history.

Ali
VP of Product Management