Mobile Trends Small Business Should Get in Front Of

It’s easier than ever to leave your laptop at home, yet still stay connected and productive on the go. Here are some mobile trends that almost all small business can get in front of and capitalize on.

Smartphones and Apps

Smartphones will continue to proliferate in 2010, despite the uncertain economy. Industry predictions are that about 250 million smartphones will be sold globally this year, up from an estimated 190 million in 2009.

For small businesses, the real value of a smartphone, aside from e-mail, Web browsing and phone functions, is in the applications, or apps. In 2010, more apps will help you stay connected to your company’s data or be productive while on the road.

For example, there are online file storage, sharing and synchronization service that offer a free iPhone apps that lets you view files stored in your own account and e-mail them to others – invaluable when you’re away from the office without a laptop and need to e-mail a file to someone. Expect to see more smartphone apps this year, giving you more ways to access company data from anywhere.

Smartbooks

A brand-new product category, smartbooks fall somewhere between a smartphone and a netbook. Designed to be an always-on Internet device, as opposed to a fully functional laptop or netbook, a smartbook is super thin, light, and it has a physical keyboard and a color screen that ranges between five and10 inches. A smartbook has a processor that’s often used in smartphones (but it’s more powerful), a battery that lasts all day and 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Smartbooks might make sense for people who prefer a keyboard they can actually type on and who primarily use computing apps instead of standard office productivity software. Given that many netbooks currently cost less but do more, smartbooks may not be a practical choice for most small businesses for a while.

Engaging with Customers

The smartphone’s continual rise will give you more opportunities in 2010 to interact with customers when they’re mobile. And more customers will use smartphones to search for you.

Mobile Web use jumped 34 percent from July 2008 to July 2009, according to the Nielsen Company. This means a growing number of your potential customers might be searching for you on their smartphones.

But there’s a potential problem. While smartphones have browsers that can display most Web content, not all of those pages are optimized for the smartphone’s small screens, making them difficult to view and navigate on a handheld.

Also, some mobile browsers can’t currently display Flash-based content. If your landing page is primarily a Flash animation, a smartphone user isn’t likely to see it. In that case, consider creating a separate mobile-optimized site.

Bar Codes

As smartphone cameras gain megapixels, they’re better able to accurately scan bar codes. For businesses with a brick-and-mortar presence, such as retailers, restaurants and bars, this capability can present new ways to provide information, discount coupons and more to potential customers while they’re at your location.

Quick Response (QR) codes, two-dimensional bar codes that can store addresses, URLs and other information, have been popular in Japan and Europe are now getting a push in the U.S.

Once you download a QR reader app (many are free) to your smartphone, customers can take a picture with their smartphone of a QR code they see at a business, in a magazine, or on a sign. The smartphone QR reader app will then automatically direct them to a mobile Web page and display a coupon or other information. For example, a retailer could serve up a list of items in the store that are on sale only to those who access the QR code.

Creating a QR code is free and extremely simple. But awareness of QR codes is still fairly new. So if you post them at your location, expect to do some customer education.

Location-aware Apps

With GPS becoming a standard feature on smartphones, more apps and mobile sites are serving up location-aware content. For example, the mobile GreenLocals app combines two of the hottest trends in business – green and local search.

If you’re visiting the Park City, Utah area and are looking for a coffee house that is committed to green practices, sustainability and Fair Trade, you’d just do a search on “Coffee Shops,” and you’ll get a list of cafés sorted by commitment to sustainability.  Click a link to a café, and you’ll get information about its location, phone number, payment options, links to relevant Web pages, and customer reviews.