A recent survey highlights the frustrations that the growing army of smartphone internet users are having with the websites they visit. The problems are mainly caused by the fact that most of the visited websites are not optimised for phone users. Although this research was carried out in the States the rapid uptake and use of smartphones for web browsing in the UK and Europe is not far behind, as this research demonstrates. It’s therefore likely that a similar level of frustration is occurring over here.

The report shows that the biggest issue visitors to the mobile internet have is poor website formatting, with a third of people complaining about it. The next biggest issue is the slow website load speed which upset 29% of the survey group.

Developing a mobile version of a website first requires the registration of a .mobi domain – a simple and relatively inexpensive process. Although these domains have been around since 2006 it is only over the past year or so that the larger organisations have begun to appreciate the potential of the mobile market and produced simplified, fast loading smartphone websites like those of Marks and Spencer and the BBC.

There has been a rush to market of a number of low-cost online services that purport to automatically produce a mobile version of a standard website, but most of these have faults and have been built primarily to service the weakening iPhone market.

Although there is no quick fix to producing an effective smartphone website, the predictions for the future growth of this sector are huge, with the previously quoted Gartner research indicating that mobile devices will replace PCs as the most common device for web surfing by 2013.

Obviously, the pace of uptake of web surfing by smartphone will vary from market to market, but if you think your business could benefit, now or in the near future, from a better mobile presence contact us for an informal chat and perhaps some free advice.