OK, so Gartner recently revealed that Smart Phone sales were up 27% (whilst standard mobile sales were down 6%). The iPhone was a major contributor with 13% of all new handsets sold in 2nd quarter 2009 up from 3% in the corresponding period of 2008.

I haven’t seen a personal device get traction like this since the Sony Walkman in the 80s and there’s a real simple reason. It’s not the phone, the phone is actually rubbish – it’s the promise of a truly decent mobile web experience. The crux of which lies in the ability to zoom in and out with ease – funny that whilst the cynics were saying that mobile web will never work because the screen is too small, Apple invented a way to take screen size out of the picture…so to speak.

And Joe Public loves this new type of web experience. According to AdMob’s April 2009 Mobile Metrics Report Apple’s iPhone accounted for 43% of all mobile web traffic despite having just 8% of all handset sales in the same period. So, mobile internet usage is on the march and yet many digital marketing folks don’t seem to be paying attention.

How many of the major Australian web properties have customised their web experience for the iPhone (and other smart phones)? I’ve seen a few, Realestate.com.au for example but most brands are missing an enormous opportunity to engage via what is the fastest growing form of web access. If you’ve got a smart phone then go take a look at some of your favourite sites….they’re bad huh!?

It’s not just about missing opportunities either. In many cases a mobile alternative version of your web site could be required to maintain an acceptable level of accessibility and usability. For example Flash is not supported by the iPhone’s safari browser and sites that rely heavily on this plug-in will not display as intended (if at all). And it’s not going to be fixed overnight either as there are some fundamental reasons why Apple is resisting the inclusion of Flash.

So stop sitting on your handsets and take action. Start by including mobile based browsers in your web testing standards for all new development, that’s a bare minimum. Most importantly strongly consider developing a unique version of your major web application or site especially for mobile web browsing.  It amazes me that Seek currently has no iPhone version (or app) of their site – imagine the take-up of mobile based job hunting – come on guys what’s taking you so long, surely it’s not the business case!