Guest Column: Mobile Optimized Websites And Rich Apps: The Secrets To A Successful Mobile Platform

By Dave Sikora, Digby

Mobile phones are rapidly transforming from a simple talking and texting device to a fast and feature-rich, handheld computer known as the smartphone. Consumers now expect to be able to take high quality photographs, email large files, research major purchases and shop on-the-go with a mobile device on-demand, anywhere at any time. Sixty-five million smartphones are expected to ship this year alone , and 37 percent of smartphone owners used mobile devices to purchase merchandise from their mobile devices in 2009 -so it is no wonder that mobile is predicted to surpass desktop Internet in five years.