Google boss highlights mobile as future

Google’s UK and Ireland managing director Matt Brittin has highlighted faster, better connections, clever devices, less cost and the cloud‚ as key drivers for the anticipated mobile revolution.

Speaking at the IAB Engage for Mobile conference, he said mobile as a marketing and communications medium is currently in take-off mode‚ and at the start of a real revolution.

Brittin (pictured) told the audience that we are at the very start of “a revolution where the internet and mobile devices collide and it’s going to change the world over the next three years.”

He urged the audience of mobile and internet experts to act as mobile pioneers‚ adding that Google is taking mobile very seriously.

Stressing the importance of evangelising about the medium at this very critical stage, Brittin credited the growth and strength of mobile media to 5 key drivers:

1. The power of computing getting faster, better access and greater speeds.
2. Connected people and device, using the example that the current Nexus phone has 1000 times more memory at 50th of the weight of his first ever computer in 1995.
3. Clever devices with sharper senses.
4. Costs of using mobile internet becoming less relevant as prices drop significantly and “value is accelerating”.
5. The cloud, which gives you the internet in your pocket, adding “the collision of the cloud and the phone changes everything”.

He advised the brands in the room to be clear about their mobile strategy and know exactly what they need to do with the medium before they enter the space.

“Be clear about what you are trying to do. Are you trying to generate press headlines? If so, get an iPhone app.”

He recommended that brands be ready‚ for the mobile consumer, thinking about what they’re going to find when they reach a website on a mobile phone, and to consider how the user is able to find them in the space, for example via a search engine or app lists.

Brittin also encouraged the audience to be smart‚ about mobile data and analyse what it tells you about who is visiting your site and what they’re doing there.

Read Marketing Week’s analysis Could 2010 be the year of the mobile for marketers? here.

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