Biggest online retailer offers clever mobile application

The world is changing at an ever increasing rate and business owners, software developers and consumers cannot afford to be left behind. Take the very popular eBay online auction store, and I mean very popular, with an existing global customer base of 233 million that access the site via the Internet; last year they announced that they would be extending their service so that users could access the site through their mobile phones.

Mobile application developers need to be closely following the trend towards internet and mobile phone access convergence, particularly the role that SMS messaging can play in this space. Existing websites, in particular sites such as eBay or social networking sites, need to ensure that they include a mobile messaging component to their offering or they will get left behind.

In less than ten years eBay has expanded into a global retail giant with a presence in over 37 countries and by going mobile they have just expanded their potential customer base to the entire world. The mobile component of their offering consists of an eBay mobile site customised for viewing on your phone, a downloadable mobile application that allows you to bid and SMS message alerts that notify you when your item of interest is close to bid finishing or when you have been outbid.

Offering users extreme freedom of movement, this application and mobile site will ensure that eBay remains the world’s most popular online marketplace. According to Nielsen’s 2008 Netratings, 40.62% of active internet users visit eBay.co.uk at least once a month; we should expect those figures to rise now that usage is not limited to PC access.

Additional features offered with the eBay mobile application include being able to manage the timing of the SMS text alerts to ensure that you get a good night’s sleep! With mobile phone penetration across the world outstripping Internet access, mobile application developers need to be providing ever more innovative uses of mobile messaging API’s to their prospective customers.

All internet based businesses will in the next few years need to be providing a mobile offering for their customers. Mobile application developers that are looking ahead to what is possible and needed in an increasingly mobile world will ensure their business survives the next decade.

Related posts:

1. What The SMS Gateway Did for the Mobile Looking for some ammunition to convince your boss that getting...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Tags: API, application programming interface, Clickatell, mobile application developers, mobile internet, SMS, SMS alerts, SMS auctions, SMS gateway provider, SMS messaging, Social Networking, text message