The ways of the digital world are changing. By 2014, mobile Internet is predicted to take over desktop Internet usage. Currently, about one quarter of mobile phones are smartphones. As smartphones become more accessible and affordable, it is clear why mobile Internet is predicted to skyrocket. If you’re still not convinced, check out this video to see how mobile usage exploded in 2010 and how it’s “really really big” in 2011—five billion apps were downloaded in 2010, up from 300 million in 2009. Included in those apps are a handful that consumers use to read eBooks and listen to audiobooks.
So what does this mean for you? It means you better be thinking mobile because if you’re not, you’re already behind.
To enable our partners to reach the broadest consumer base possible, OverDrive released its first app in December 2009, and has followed up with eBook and audiobook apps for iPhone®, iPad®, Android™ phones and tablets, BlackBerry®, and Windows® Phone.
As a publisher, the easiest way to maximize revenue from these mobile apps is to supply the preferred mobile formats for the most popular mobile devices: EPUB eBooks and MP3 audiobooks. Your consumers prefer them. Big-name retailers, including Barnes & Noble and Waterstone’s, only sell their audiobooks in MP3 format, and librarians are four times more likely to purchase MP3s rather than other audiobook formats. The International Digital Publishing Forum has developed EPUB with options that make it easy to use, thus making it the industry standard.
As a retailer, mobile gives you an opportunity to connect with your customers on a personal level. Individuals are now more likely to use their mobile phones or tablets for connecting with friends on social networks, reading emails and shopping. A whopping 62 percent of consumers with web-connected mobile devices are buying goods via mobile. So make sure your website is mobile friendly, or develop a specific mobile site for your customers; they will appreciate it.
Even Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo says mobile is growing: “The number of ‘global active users’ –people who log in at least once a month –has jumped 82 percent from the start of the year with mobile climbing 40 percent each quarter for the past year.” If Twitter says so, who are we to argue?
Let us know—how have you prepared for a mobile world?
Brianne Carlon is a public relations specialist at OverDrive.
