Go mobile or not - 'when' is the question

I think if you are about to market your business online and part of that marketing is via a website, then having a mobile version now is a must. Otherwise you will throw away between 20-30% of potential enquires/leads/sales.

If you already have a website, and it's not mobile friendly, then I guess it potential cost of a mobile solution versus potential gain?

I wonder now whether web designers now automatically include a mobile solution when quoting for a clients website?

Mobile is set to really take off this year. Now that a growing majority of people in the UK have the internet in the palm of their hands, why wouldn't you have a mobile version of your website or be investing in mobile ad campaigns? Better to be one of the companies that prepares and invests in this early on that joining the crowd later down the line.

True.....what about Mcommerce. When do you think that will actually take off? I mean will people actually make purchases online?

Haven't heard of / not familiar with MCommerce, look forward to seeing what will happen with it.

It's old hat in some parts of the world. Maybe some of the African countries could show us the way!

Mobile ecommerce is booming in Africa

I get the impression that some web designers struggle with mobile sites, I've dealt with 3 designers over the last couple of months, one kept trying to fob me off. Then had the mobile site made by Scoot / TouchLocal who sent the code via email for the current web designer to upload, he didn't really know what he was suppose to do with it, so eventually managed to get someone else who after several emails back and forth to Scoot finally got it uploaded...

responsive design. it loads all of the same assets, which could be slow depending on your design, but changes the layout for certain screen sizes and user agent types. you can have the same site, and just add certain lines into the files that allows the page to detect size and browser, and change the layout accordingly. we designed a site that changes the layout completely to better suit a mobile or tablet without loading a whole different site.

design the site with this capability and you wont need to worry about "going mobile", because if somebody needs a different layout due to a certain type of phone or browser type, the page will adjust accordingly, and use the same page content.

Must admit, I've yet to see one I like and think works well. They tend to be (as you say) slow, or (at least to me) a bit clunky, as the one hat fits all just doesn't work in all circumstances.

I think it's easier designing a mobile specific solution to mirror the desktop experience. That said, we are in the process of redesigning our mobile site, a sit's a bit to cut down, so would love to see an example of a complex site using responsive design.

Mobile is hott. I recently read a report that said the US has made it over the hump in terms of smart phone possession (more than 50% of Americans now own a smartphone). This definitely says a lot about going mobile but it does depend on your specific market.