From the SAY blog: Why Mobile Content Is So Hard to Get Right

Mr. Hunt, this isn't mission difficult, it's mission impossible. "Difficult" should be a walk in the park for you.

Mission Commander Swanbeck

As a foreign correspondent in London ten years ago, my job was to unearth innovative new startups for my business magazine's readers. I traveled across the Continent from Helsinki to Milan meeting entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and big company researchers to write about the next big thing.

In the summer of 2002, I attended a launch party for a startup demoing their nascent service at a swanky Haymarket bar. Upon walking in, there were printed instructions to visit one of the tables playing music and then navigate through a maze of confusing WAP mobile phone menus. What resulted was my phone magically told me the name of the song playing in the room. The party was Shazam's coming out party. It took almost ten years for the music recognition app to truly gain widespread recognition but, for me, it was the first time I saw firsthand what was only possible with a mobile phone.

Ten years later, publishers are still plotting the best ways to engage readers on mobile devices.

The stakes are high. As technology continuously improves, the percent of content consumed from mobile devices increases. On average, 20 percent of sites’ content is now being consumed in mobile browsers. But, evolving technology platforms and consumption patterns makes it far more difficult to succeed on mobile than it is on desktop.

And the challenge of building a great mobile experience isn't solved by simply ensuring the content displays in the right way in the right environment. The bigger challenge is to figure out how best to match the content and mission of that publisher with the unique properties associated with varied operating systems, devices, browser and app environments.

via blog.saymedia.com