Landlords Are Finding The Value In Mobile

I spend a lot of time on my Blackberry.  I tweet, Facebook, answer emails and browse the Internet.  I use my smart phone to help me stay in contact with my friends, communicate with colleagues or search for information on the Internet.  When I'm on the move, my Blackberry is there and many people share my behaviour pattern.  The last I heard it was around 55% of Canadians that were using their cell phones to browse the internet and that number continues to grow by the day.

Just as we saw the Internet explode in popularity in the late 90s and early 2000s, mobile too is expected to explode in popularity.  By 2014 more people are expected to access the Internet by mobile than by desktop.  So it's nice to see that many landlords across Canada are warming up to mobile and responding to the growth in popularity by developing mobile friendly websites.

You see, there's nothing more frustrating then visiting a non-mobile friendly website on a smart phone (unless it's an iPhone, so i've heard).  Every time I hit one I quickly exit because I know how much time I'm going to waste trying to navigate it.  Being in the website development industry, I know that developing a mobile friendly website is not overly complex.  In fact, it's affordable and most design firms should know how to do it.  So to me there really is no excuse not to have one.  

As a visitor of these un-friendly websites, I feel shunned and undervalued.  If the company truly valued my patronage then they would try to provide me service on the media of my choosing.  Now when I land on a mobile friendly website, I tend to stay longer and become more appreciative of the effort that the company has put forth to service me better.  In a nutshell, I'm more open to doing business with that company. To me this suggests that landlords have a huge opportunity to attract mobile users and gain a certain amount of loyalty because of their early adoption of this medium. 

It's true that mobile is still in its growth stage, but I do give kudos to those landlords who are taking the step forward and embracing this medium.  On behalf of all of my mobile web surfers, I thank you!