The popularity that Amazon developed with the Kindle and Apple has reinvented in the IPad has taken notice by Google, Microsoft, and Blackberry amongst others. In 2011 websites need to prepare for increased viewership on the mobile operating systems that tablets run on. We project that 2011 will be known as the year of the tablet. The competition will get competitive, the prices will come down, and the apps will continue to be developed.
We have stressed in the past the importance of website browser compatibility and making sure your site looks the same across all web browsers and operating systems. Included in that has to be how your site looks on mobile operating systems like Google’s Android, IPhone/ITouch/IPad, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7, and RIM blackberry.
It is widely known that Flash is not supported on Apples platform so sites that are built entirely in flash or have a flash object on the page need to have an alternative solution. Another thing to think about is that smaller devices mean different screen resolutions. In design it is important to consider what the viewer’s see right as they come to the home page (without scrolling). Is most of the content or navigation being hidden on these devices?
As tablets popularity grows (and it will), businesses need to work with their website design companies to make sure that all platforms are being supported and acknowledged. The days were 70% of the market share was owned by PC based Internet Explorer are over. Small and large businesses alike are seeing their page views come from a variety of web browsers both PC based and mobile.
In February Blackberry is preparing the release of their new tablet, the Playbook, and the IPad2 will not be far behind. Watch for multiple Android based tablets and Windows tablets to also flood the market. Lets circle around on this topic a year from now and see what we learned.
