4 reasons why businesses should create mobile services tailored for specific device categories

By Rajesh Reddy, CEO, July Systems
LOS ANGELES, CA May 13, 2011 – It is no secret that there are technical challenges with creating and delivering ads and content on tablets.

Different tablets are usually not compatible—even two Android-based tablets may have different screen sizes and user interfaces. As with ads and content for mobile phones, where you have to adapt the applications for each handset and device, advertisers and publishers should optimize their content for each particular tablet to deliver the best end-user experience.

Now that there are more tablets and smartphones coming into the market, the number of adaptations for different devices that content providers need to do is increasing. No longer can they focus solely on Apple’s iPad. In addition to Android-based competitors such as the Motorola Xoom, there are other rival tablets such as RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook and the Palm webOS-based HP TouchPad.

There are four reasons why brands and publishers would want to create a different service variant—not just an adaptation—for different mobile devices, whether it be phones or tablets:

1. The operating system and supported browser(s) varies from device to device.

2. The device sizes and form factors of various devices are different—that inevitably changes the way a consumer uses each device.

3. The demographic and psychographic profile of consumers using each device is different depending on the price point and target audience of the various mobile platforms.

4. The content distribution model varies from OS to OS and often from device to device—for example, users may access content via the various app stores and/or the mobile Web.

Based on these factors, brands and content providers need to consider creating different services, ad units and experiences for the various tablet platforms to ensure an optimal, consistent user experience across devices.

For example, users of 10-inch tablets such as the iPad demonstrate very different behavior in terms of frequency of use, time of the day use, the need to use both hands, etc., compared to a 7-inch tablet such as the Android-based Samsung Galaxy Tab.

If brands or publishers need to distribute applications through app stores such as Apple’s App Store, Google’s Android Market and RIM’s BlakBerry App World, then they will need to write the tablet apps in the native code formats.

Tablets—like mobile phones—are consumer devices. Their popularity and success depend on appealing to different user types by satisfying a range of needs and idiosyncrasies—just like shoes. For that reason, there is no one-size-fits-all solution for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.