When will it be Mobile First?

All signs are clear, mobile is where it is at. It is destined to cruise by the clunky computer and become the primary tool for digital communication any year now. The main focus of innovation happens in the smartphone space. Some of the most drastic increases in marketing spending happens here. The close and personal nature of the devises has made the internet an ever present commodity in peoples lives and being online is as natural and constant as being awake. Nothing of this should be news to anyone. So why is it still not Mobile First?

To get your message across you need to make sure it is accessible. But we are still producing properties in Flash, a technology Adobe now finally admits are not suitable for mobile devices. We are designing interfaces incompatible with touch. We are not including iOS and Android when bug testing. Unique mobile features such as the ability to make phone calls, identify your location, process payments or verify identities are usually left out or added as an afterthought. The ideas might be suitable for mobile but the message seldom is.

We try to advice our clients to start with mobile. If you are communicating for the long term, start by imagining how the message would utilize all the mobile possibilities. This also forces you to focus on the core of the product or message and not get lost in lofty digital dazzling.

The consumers are using, or are moving towards lightweight yet powerful tools and we are clearly heading in to what Apple has defined as the post-pc world. Limiting your communication for machines that you have to place yourself in a chair to access have stopped making sense for users. It probably should stop to make sense for your business as well.