Just finished reading the ever so smart and on-target Mitch Joel in his book Six Pixels of Separation. If you're on twitter and you're getting something out of it, or if you're a blogger, or if you are an avid reader of blogs, the book was not written for you - except for one chapter on mobility.
According to Joel, we're all going mobile. And if you're not starting to think mobile in regards to your content and your audience - you should. Now.
According to Joel, we're all going mobile. And if you're not starting to think mobile in regards to your content and your audience - you should. Now.
From Joel's new book:
If you don't see a link between your businesses, what you're doing online, and what you're doing in the mobile space, you're going to be in for a huge surprise in the next two to four years. Today's students entering the workforce clearly see having a desktop as being "tethered." From the looks of things, even a laptop seems tethered to most of these young people.
We're going mobile, and it's happening fast.
- Mitch Joel, Six Pixels of SeparationYesterday, Joel wrote on his blog,
How many times have you fired open your iPhone only to laugh at how non-existent some big brand's experience is on that platform. This is the same kind of conduct we saw in the early days of the Internet. The difference is that things are moving faster.
Which leads me to the earth shattering news that I now have an iPhone app of my blog.
How I Went From No App To App in 10 Minutes
The app was made by the enterprising people at appmakr.com.I found appmakr.com during a little investigating I did between Christmas and New Year's. I had just read Joel's passage on mobility, and wondered if the blogger of the century, Seth Godin, had an app.
The reason I first thought of Godin is because he uses Typepad (like me) and Typepad is really behind the curve on what Bloggers need tomorrow. Their strength is getting bloggers up and running fast. Typepad isn't blazing new trails. Just yet.
Most Wordpress blogs are already retro-fitted for a mobile world. When you read many wordpress blogs on your phone - they are automatically templated for easy mobile reading. Wordpress even allows a custom icon so that when you hit the + sign in iPhone's Safari browser and hit the "Add to Home Screen button", a nice shiny icon lands on your phone.
Back to my story.... Indeed, at the app store Godin had an app. This was before his post about his app that came out last week the first week in January.
I surfed over to appmakr.com and started building my app. Man, it was easy. They have a very intuitive site and you can see your blog take shape on an iPhone as you add a jpg on a splash screen, and even your twitter tweets.
With My App I Walk A Little Taller
Do I think that people wandering on the app store are going to find me? No. Am I going to add advertising on the app (which appmakr allows you to do) and start counting my moola. Nope. Am I really truly thinking I have a breakthrough in the mobile space? No again. I'm just keeping up. Because mobile is now.
As content providers, we all have to say to current readers/viewers and future ones: "Want some convenience?"
I'm hoping in this brave new mobile world, there will be many takers.
Watch for my next post. Here's more information on appmakr.com and a huge discount till the end of January, 2010. A Q&A with Pointabout, Inc. (maker of appmakr.com) CEO, Scott Suhy. Stay tuned.
Or, download my app: WayWeWatch
You may also like: 17 iPhone Apps to Make This Year More Productive and More Fun.
image generated by appmakr.com
