Read via MocoNews that Telephia and ComScore revealed that on mobiles more people like to access weather information, while on the PC it is about searching…
Let me tell you why I'm not surprised with these results… and why this validates one of the main usage patterns and characteristics of mobility…
First, the above results revealed that in general, both in mobile and desktop, search is king. The differences are a result of different usage patters, where in mobile people search for specific types of information, vs. on the desktop where it is about search in general.
Besides its main purpose of “communicating with friends and family (and co-workers)”, the mobile handset is about finding relevant information, while “on the go”. As previously mentioned, it is about finding specific snippets of information that is needed “now”, and typically related to an event while on the go. These are data snippets such as “what is the time”, “the local weather”, and “places in your area”, or access to other information related to the person's mobile context.
Consuming information on handsets is not the same as on the desktop or even a laptop, and it is about relevancy. Please note that relevancy is not only about finding specific information of interest but also has an impact on how information is organized and presented to the user.
So kids, the word of the day is relevant, as in relevant based on time, location, and other personal preferences or characteristics “surrounding” the mobile user at a specific point in time.
Note that one of the MIDP3 upcoming features is support for “idle screen”, which is great, and is perfect to bring relevant information to the user while the handset is “idle” – think Widgets…
ceo