A natural extension to the social web is played out on mobile devices. Be this a version of the website that has been designed specifically for a smaller screen (e.g. http://m.playfoursqaure.com) or an application that runs natively on the device (e.g. Facebook App on Windows Mobile).
These extensions are invaluable to the success of a social website for they allow the experience to travel with the user and continue the flow of data wherever they are, and as the value of a website is found in the content, it’s critical to provide as many input points as possible and keep them open at all times. Mobile is an example of such an input point. Couple the mobile input point to a mobile device with GPS capability and data flowing to and from the network becomes exponentially more valuable and the experiences both for the mobile user and consumers of their information becomes extremely customized.
Apps are by far the better option over a mobile (wap) version of the website because they provide a richer user experience, allow better integration with the mobile operating system for sharing of content and also a way for developers to monetize their application ($25bn market by 2014). Remember that the flow of data is key so having an app that makes this happen quicker and more easily for the user is imperative.
Examples of where this is true include the success of Twitter, due in no small part to the client applications running on devices – particularly mobile – and also new social games are emerging like www.playfoursquare.com whose adoption of amongst iPhone users is much greater than other mobile platforms – because they have a really nice app.
It’s not just about the software either. With companies like www.modu.com delivering modular phones that allow you to quickly change the physical build of a device for different scenarios, the type of data that flows to/from the network will be dictated by the configuration of phone you have on your person at the time.
Back to the software though, and where all this is going. Windows Mobile 6 – the current version - is not the best for social applications, because it’s difficult to write apps that people love to use. With Windows Mobile 6.5 that will change with support for touch gestures and a widget framework that allows web developers to build application-like experiences outside of the browser without having to write native code. Microsoft are also launching (a well publicized) Marketplace where developers can sell the applications they build.
We’ve just released an SDK for Windows Mobile 6.5 which also includes emulators for testing – you can download it here. Rob Cameron has more information in his blog post on the SDK.