1. Mobile web is becoming richer and more fully featured.
2. Only few brands have been down the road of creating dedicated mobile experiences.
3. Users access it by simply going to a web page.
Mobile Web (or Web 3.0) refers to access to the world wide web, i.e. the use of browser-based Internet services, from a mobile device.
A Richer Mobile Web
In the past couple years, mobile browsers have gained direct access to the hardware of mobile devices (including accelerometers and GPS chips), and the speed and abilities of browser-based applications have considerably improved.
Technologies that are now accessible allowed by the mobile web:
- HTML5 CANVAS: the new web standard for speedy, pixel-perfect animation.
- WEB AUDIO API: it’s a high-level JavaScript API which allows capabilities found in modern game audio engines (mixing, processing, synthesizing and filtering audio) in web browsers.
- WEBSOCKETS: technology that keeps the connection open overtime which allows multiple devices to communicate between each other overtime
Mobile browsers allows you to create sophisticated interfaces with almost no latency in the graphics or audio from a simple web page. What was only reserved for Native Application until recently. So the frontier between native and web mobile experiences is anticipated to become increasingly blurred, as technology progresses.
Best in Class Mobile Experiences
First, let’s go over what should be considered as “standard mobile experience” for a brand in 2014:
- Corolla: http://www.corollatouchdrive.com
- Pan Pacific Defense http://www.panpacificdefense.com/
- Puma Mobium: http://puma.com/mobium/
- Burberry Kisses: http://kisses.burberry.com/
The use of touch screen features (drag, loooong scroll..) make these experiences engaging enough that a user will want to explore the content offered by a brand.
Although some of the best examples using the mobile web at its maximum are Chrome Experiments (see below), i would argue that brands are already catching up:
- Pacific Chamber Symphony: http://www.mobileorchestra.com/
- NORTON: http://www.enjoyyourprivacy.com
- ADIDAS: http://www.nitrochargeyourgame.com/
The most advanced mobile experiences i have seen so far:
- CHROME Racer: http://g.co/racer (from far my favorite)
- CHROME Sports: http://g.co/super
- CHROME Roll it: http://g.co/rollit
- CHROME Reflktor: http://g.co/af
The role of the agency is to insure that mobile experiences are crafted to enhance the brand or campaign’s message. otherwise it’s a gimmick that will be turned down by consumers.
Let me know if you have seen other great experiences using the mobile web!
