XTOPOLY’s CEO Naushad Huda and COO Nick Reshamwalla had the pleasure of being interviewed by Ted Schadler of Forrester Research for a report aiming to answer the question, “Why does a company need a mobile organization?”

WHY READ THIS REPORT

Mobile touches every part of your business. Customers crave apps to access your core services. Employees keep work moving forward from any location — meeting room, kitchen table, or soccer field. Partners carry your product catalog and rich media product descriptions into customer meetings and then follow up to close the deal before pulling out of the parking lot. To marshal your skills and resources while keeping an eye on the user experience and a firm grip on the security model and brand experience, you need a mobile organization. Start with a steering committee and development team, but build toward a mobile center of excellence. This report lays out the organizational model, describes what to facilitate and what to govern, and presents a case study on how IHG builds mobile apps.

Read the full report – “Your Company Needs a Mobile Organization”

RD is not the silver bullet and before starting to go down that path it’s important to think strategically about the goals you want to achieve, the learnings that will come from the traffic and what you can do to improve not only the experience for your consumers but the technology as well. Responsive, in our POV, has 2 main components: Technology and User Behavior. In order to do it successfully you need a masterful hand at both.

EConsultancy published an article recently titled: Seven Potential Downsides to Using Responsive Design. (The title is a bit dramatic for the content!)  The 7 points they bring up are more considerations for discussion rather than downsides. The 2 considerations I find most interesting after having done a few responsive design projects recently are:

- Development Time and Resources

- Catering to Different User Behaviors

Development Time and Resources: This is certainly a big point of consideration when going down the Responsive path. For our team, it was interesting to see the synchronization of resources that were needed to complete tasks that typically would have been more compartmentalized in the production process. For example, a typical process for a non-Responsive project would be: Strategy, UX, UI, Development, QA and launch. However, for a Responsive project UX, UI and Development worked collaboratively. It was normal to see our creative team + development team brainstorm together early in the process. This lead to a more productive production process.

Catering to Different User Behaviors: Responsive has two important factors, one is technology and the other is user behavior. In creating a Responsive project we have to think about how / when /why a user would view the content on various devices – then account for these answers in the production.  This can take a little guessing, but a lot can be determined from first taking a look at the analytics (if available) of the Client’s current desktop (or mobile) site. Another technique is to make educated guesses, launch the Responsive site then have time built into the project to study the analytics to optimize the content based on data post-launch.

Feedback? What’s been your experience with Responsive?

Email: naushad AT xtopoly DOT COM

Twitter: @naushadhuda

LinkedIn: NHudaXTOPOLY

Responsive Example: Gabbiano

As a child, Disney movies left us with a sense of wonder every time the credits rolled and the lights came up.  Today after reviewing all of the many submissions, Disney has yet again captured our creative hearts.  Disney’s Responsive Creative Design site delivers a web experience leaving the user feeling as if they were walking through the magic kingdom itself.

The websites simplicity affords the user an element of childlike entertainment while still driving home the sales efforts with bold Call To Actions in the rotating marquee across all screens.  The desktop navigation bar fluidly transitions into a iconic menu button when taken to the mobile screens, the design clearly thought through. However, the use of the Stretch & Swap tactics (See p.3) in unison make Disney’s site the happiest user experience on the web.  Try resizing the Monsters Inc. marquee image, you’ll notice that even the Call To Action and image change based upon the device accessing the page.  Well done, we applaud this nicely tailored work.

-XTOPOLY

P.S. Be sure to check back once in a while, more tickets coming your way!

HOW TO GET TICKETS:

• Post on our Facebook page a website that you think is a spectacular example of Responsive Design!

ENTRY DEADLINE: 

• Wednesday Feb. 20 at 5:00PM

WINNER SELECTION: 

• Thursday Feb. 21 at 12:00PM
• We will be emailing the tickets to the selected winner the day of the game.

Thanks everyone and good luck, we can’t wait to see what you’ll come up with!

-XTOPOLY

Questions, Comments, Concerns? Click Here!

Be sure to check out our current Rich Media Reel and drop us a line at XTOPOLY.com with any questions, inquires, or comments.

Designing an above par website involves delivering content that is 1.Easily digestible while using a clean visual layout across all devices (Like this slick Responsive Design Site), 2. having text that is easy to read (stay away from these), and 3. the site/app has a simple navigation style (Development suggestions here).

Apply these concepts and you’ll have a block rocking digital product in no time at all. The modern day user does not have time to read entire articles and even if they do, well they want it in a shiny simple box of digital fun. Keep it simple, less is more.

Be sure to check out Awwwards Web Design Trends of 2013 to further explore the idea of a simpler web.

Contact XTOPOLY: To learn more, drop us a line

“I’ve seen more honesty in a Match.com ad than what I’ve seen in a AT&T Coverage map” - John Legere

That was just one of the flurries of jabs T-Mobile’s hip new CEO landed on the competition during CES 2013 as the nation’s 4th largest carrier takes aim at the competition. In addition to their announcement of HD Voice, no lock ups and other features, Legere was determined to make T-Mobile as hip and edgy as the mobile industry itself. John Legere personally said that T-Mobile has “swagger” all while dressed in a baseball hat, T-shirt and a suit with rolled up sleeves. Move over Tyler The Creator, there is a new swag sheriff in town.

In a recent New York Times article, Mr. Legere spoke of his nearly 45K strong workforce where the average age is 30. One of the first things he did as CEO was to change the policy that outlawed tattoos and piercing on their retail employees in their stores. Travis Barker my good friend, welcome to your second career!

In a recent Reuters article, Legere also said they could possibly increase T-Mobile USA’s market share by 5 percent or higher from bigger rivals who still depend on subsidizing phones to give their customers a device discount in exchange for tying them into a two-year contract. If this is what it means to be an uncarrier, T-Mobile just may begin to increase the 100K new converts they are receiving from their competitors each month.

While T-Mobile hasn’t made the video of their keynote public yet, you can catch a snippet from John and his team here (1:25)

AND  you can catch the FULL audio and 16 page presentation here

In your opinion what was the worst mobile app/mobile web site of 2012?

Be sure to post your answer on our Facebook page. The winner with the most “likes” by 4pm PST on Friday 1/11/13 wins the tickets. Be sure to “Like” our page while you are there and stay tuned for everything mobile.