Mobile Version of LawMarketing Portal Now Online

By Larry Bodine, Esq., a business development advisor based in Glen Ellyn, IL. With the Apollo Business Development Program, he has helped law firms nationwide get new clients and generate millions of dollars of new revenue. He can be reached at 630.942.0977 and www.ApolloBusinessDevelopment.com

I have seen the future of the Internet, and it will be viewed on a 2 by 3-inch screen.  New research shows that most people will view the web on their smartphones and PDA -- instead of computer monitors. Accordingly, visitors to the LawMarketing Portal can now see a special mobile version of the site specially designed for their handheld devices.

Like CNN.com, the New York Times online and Google, the LawMarketing Portal displays neatly on the screens of iPhones, Blackberrys, Treos and other handheld PDAs that can access the web. By simply visiting www.LawMarketing.com on your handheld, you'll see all the articles on the home page in a minimalist display that includes text, links and graphics.

No downloads nor special software is required. Simply open your device's browser and point it to www.LawMarketing.com. Your PDA will automatically pick up mobile.lawmarketing.com, the address of the handheld-friendly site, allowing you to see all the latest articles on the home page.

Mobile devices will be primary web viewer

According to new research, "The Future of the Internet III" published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the mobile device is already the primary connection tool for more than half of the world's 6.6 billion people.

“The consensus is that mobile devices will continue to grow in importance because people need to be connected, wherever they are. Cost-effectiveness and access are also factors driving the use of phones as connection devices. Many respondents believe that mobile devices of the future will have significant computing power," the Pew/Internet report states.

It took 20 years for the first billion mobile phones to sell, just four years for the second billion, and two years for the third billion. Wireless Intelligence, a market database, reports that there were be 4 billion cell phones in the world by the end of 2008.

Smartphones are, of course, much cheaper than computers, so that they outnumber computers widely.  Experts project that laptops and cell phones will merge.  Steve Jones, co-founder of the Association of Internet Researchers and associate dean at the University of Illinois-Chicago, said that in the near future, "I don't think it will be so easy to distinguish between a mobile phone and a laptop. These will blend into a general ‘mobile computing’ category of device (for which we probably don't yet have a name).”

Mobile technology has reached an inflection point where the mobile Internet could be another viable consumer resource for online shopping and purchasing. According to PriceGrabber.com’s Mobile Shopping Behavior Survey, 58 percent of US online consumers already own a Web-enabled mobile phone. Furthermore, of those consumers that own a Web-enabled mobile phone, one in 10 has purchased products and/or services with their device.

Of the online consumers with web-enabled phones:

• 21 percent own a smartphone
• 8 percent own an iPhone
• 29 percent own another type of web-enabled phone
• 42 percent of survey respondents said they own a non-Web-enabled phone capable of using voice and text service plans only.

Web-enabled phones have become increasingly mainstream thanks to the iPhone, which was first released on June 29, 2007.  The iPhone jump-started mainstream smartphone adoption, with 75 percent more online consumers purchasing their first Web-enabled phone in 2007 compared with 2006. Despite the economic climate, 8 percent of online consumers purchased their first Web-enabled phone in the first quarter of 2009, according to PriceGrabber.com, 

The increased popularity of Web-enabled phones in the United States has helped online shoppers become mobile Internet shoppers. One in 10 online consumers said they purchase online from their mobile device, 16 percent compare prices and another 16 percent research product details/specifications. Of the online consumers making purchases from their mobile phones, 58 percent have purchased digital content for their phone, 51 percent have purchased consumer electronics, 37 percent have purchased computers, 36 percent have purchased books, and 31 percent have purchased clothing.

Mobile commerce begins with mobile activity. With the evolving mobile Internet, online consumers with Web-enabled phones can now make informed purchase decisions from anywhere by checking their bank account balance (25%) and comparing online prices (17%) through a mobile phone.

One third of online consumers without a Web-enabled phone will purchase one in the next year. Of those consumers that indicated owning a non Web-enabled mobile phone, 13 percent said they will purchase a smartphone (other than an iPhone), 12 percent said they will purchase an iPhone, and seven percent said they will purchase another type of Web-enabled mobile phone in the next 12 months. 

Josh Quittner, executive editor of Fortune Magazine and longtime technology journalist and editor, wrote, “The notion of a ‘mobile telephone’ in 2020 is quaint. Telephones in 2020 will be archaic, relics of a bygone era—like transistor radios are today. Telephony, which will be entirely IP-based by then, will be a standard communications chip on many devices. We'll probably carry some kind of screen-based reading device that will perform this function, though I assume when we want to communicate verbally, we'll do so through a tiny, earplug-based device.”