Here is a mini-showcase of how our White Labels have turned websites that weren’t possible to navigate on a phone into full-fledged Mobile Websites. Keep up the great work!

It’s no secret that Apple and Google (Android) are not fond of each other. Steve Jobs actually threatened “to go thermonuclear” on Android due to their alleged copying of iOS.

Another fact that could attribute to Apple wanting to cut ties with Google? According to reports by iMore, Google may make four times the ad revenue off of their use in iOS than they do from their own Android platform!

Apple has already started to break from Google in the search arena. Most iPhone 4S users conduct their searching through Siri, and not through typing out a query into Google.com. The next thing to go is Google Maps.

iOS6 is reported to have a new built-in maps app that will be announced at Apple’s WWDC in June. Instead of using Google maps, Apple has developed its own 3D, in-house mapping database after acquiring 3 mapping software companies between 2011 and 2009 (Placebase, C3 Technologies, and Poly9). The image at the beginning of the blog is from C3 and was created using “previously classified image processing technology… automated software and advanced algorithms… to rapidly assemble extremely precise 3D models, and seamlessly integrate them with traditional 2D maps, satellite images, street level photography and user generated images.” Sounds fancy, no?

If all of this speculation is correct, Apple will have a new mapping app that is more detailed, gathered without personal information, and that will probably run smoother than Google’s maps. The only issue would be performance on older mobile devices that may not be able to handle the large amount of image data. If Apple can monitor the processor speed of the requesting mobile device and stream a “thinner” version to older iPhones, they might just bypass this issue.

The good news about the Apple vs. Android war? We as consumers are going to benefit. All of these tech companies trying to rid themselves of Google’s services are becoming more innovative and offering better experiences for end users. Regardless of which side you’re cheering for, you’re on the winning team.

The original Choice Hotels iPhone App was launched in 2009, and was the first location and reservation App in the Hospitality industry. From this single App consumers could search hotels and make reservations at any of Choice Hotels brands (Comfort Inn, Comfort Suites, Quality, Sleep Inn, Clarion, Cambria Suites, MainStay Suites, Suburban, Econo Lodge, and Roadway Inn). The App was a huge success and has over 1 million downloads to date. If the first Choice Hotels App was doing so great, why create a brand new one? I’m so glad you asked.

The main attraction is that the new Choice Hotels iPad App is formatted especially for the tablet’s larger display. The size of the tablet allows for more functionality and additional features that wouldn’t have worked properly on the iPhone. Some great features worth noting:

• Search hotels by zip, city, state, point-of-interest, near me
• Compare hotel amenities side-by-side
• Filter hotel searches by brand, distance, amenities and availability
• Sort hotels by price, distance and brand
• Map or list hotels and display points of interest on a map
• Check rates, photo galleries, maps, services, room availability and hotel amenities
• Filter room preferences
• Create and login using Choice Privileges membership account
• Select and book rooms quickly
• View, change and cancel reservations
• Customer Support phone numbers and emails
• Provide app feedback

If you want to check out the new App for yourself, here is a link to download it: http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/choice-hotels-international/id509342788

Enjoy!

Some send their users to 3rd party video hosting sites, while some close out of the browser and open a video-watching App. A select few (just over 1,000 to be exact…) use this YouTube Video module and keep their users on the mobile site all while displaying their company’s logo above the video.

The YouTube Video module is similar to the RSS Feed module in it’s ease of use. Name the module, copy and paste a little bit of text, and the platform does the rest.

YouTube gives you multiple options when you’re getting the video’s embed code, but the platform already knows the requirements of mobile devices, so you don’t need to worry about those. It also “knows” that you don’t want related videos showing up on your mobile websites, so it does away with those as well.

When you visit YouTube and find your client’s video, there will be a button underneath it that says “Share”. Click on this and you will get a link, and two more options. Click on “Embed” and you will get the iframe code. This is what you need to copy and paste into the YouTube Video module.

As you can see, the video is nicely formatted and shows up right on the mobile site without having to manipulate the code in any way.

Want to see it for yourself? Click this link > http://m.mobifriendly.com/BlogSite?UseEmulator=True or go to m.mobifriendly.com/blogsite on your smartphone. You can see some of the other modules from this blog series on the site as well.

The YouTube Video module was the last installation of our Mobile Websites: How-To blog series. Did you miss any modules? Click one of the topics below to check them out. We covered:

• Events
• External Links
• Generic Content
• Locations
• Menus
• Offers/Promotions
• Photo Albums
• Reviews
• RSS Feeds
• Sub-Menu

At least two new features are added each month, and since the Locations Module how-to blog was written, it has been updated to let users select their own GPS functionality (at 25 locations, Always On, Always Off).

Questions or comments? Want to learn how to become a White Label and get access to all of these modules?
Contact Us Today ]]> http://mobifriendly.com/index.php/mobile-websites-with-youtube-videos/feed/ 0 http://mobifriendly.com/index.php/mobile-websites-with-sub-menus/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mobile-websites-with-sub-menus http://mobifriendly.com/index.php/mobile-websites-with-sub-menus/#comments Fri, 11 May 2012 23:46:44 +0000 admin http://mobifriendly.com/?p=2691 Organization of your mobile websites is critical. Mobile consumers have shorter attention spans and want precise content that can be found easily. This isn’t to say that you need to limit the content on your mobile websites, just make sure that it is organized in an easy-to-use fashion. Perhaps by adding in Sub-Menus.

The Sub-Menu module makes it very easy to separate sections of your mobile websites. Maybe you work with a restaurant that has daily specials. When their customers visit the mobile site on a Friday they don’t want to scroll all the way through Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to get to Friday’s specials. Just reading that string of days is exhausting! Create a Sub-Menu titled “Daily Specials”,  and inside can be multiple Coupon modules titled with each day of the week. Now the customers just need to click on the day they’re interested in.

“Won’t I get confused as to whether I’m adding a module to the Main Page or the Sub-Menu?” Not to worry, just pay attention to the top navigation as can be seen in this next screen shot. “Home :: Demonstration Site” lets you know you’re adding to the Main Page. “Home :: Demonstration Site :: Sub-Menu 1″ indicates that you’re adding content to the Sub-Menu.

Sub-menus allow for mini-mobile websites inside the main site. Every module is available – you could even create a Sub-Menu inside of a Sub-Menu, although try not to get too carried away…

This is also a great feature for those modules that don’t support multiple listings. By now you know that the Locations module is unlimited. 500 locations could be included and they’ll all be kept in one neat section. The YouTube module (blog post coming soon!) only supports one video per module. “But my client needs a Video Gallery!” Simple, use a Sub-Menu.

Title your Sub-Menu “Video Gallery” and put as many YouTube Video modules as you need inside it. Your content stays neat and organized, and your client’s customers can get to the exact video they need without scrolling through them all.

Our blog will be busy for the next few weeks while we dive into each and every module offered on the platform. Keep checking back to learn more, or sign up today and get our step-by-step Mobile Platform Manual that will walk you through every feature available on our mobile websites!

Mobile websites, on the other hand, are known for being static and only containing basic information. Completely dynamic pages have had to be custom developed in the past, but now with the RSS Feed module they are one of the easiest things to add to your mobile websites.

One box, two fields. That’s all it takes to add a Blog to your mobile site, and it will keep updating in real-time. Add a new article to your desktop blog, and it shows up flawlessly in your mobile website’s blog! Don’t worry about reformatting or sizing your images for mobile, the platform will automatically do that, too.

Want to experience it for yourself? Check out the blogs on mobistro.com and mobifriendly.com from your smart phone. The RSS Feed module can be used for other things besides blogs, some news sites and calendars now run on RSS feeds. Not sure if your RSS feed will work on mobile? Validate it here > http://validator.w3.org/feed/

Our blog will be busy for the next few weeks while we dive into each and every module offered on the platform. Keep checking back to learn more, or sign up today and get our step-by-step Mobile Platform Manual that will walk you through every feature available on our mobile websites!

Adding the reviews module is a simple, one-step process with the mobiFriendly content management system. You don’t have to create anything, there is no copying or pasting reviews from other websites. Just add the module, and then select the review site you want to use.

There is an extensive list of popular review sites including Angie’s List, Better Business Bureau, Chowhound, Google Reviews, Yelp, and many more. If you don’t see the review site that your clients uses, you can also add a new review site. Simply name it, type the URL of the review site’s home page, and optionally add a logo.

Once the correct review site is selected, visit your client’s page on that review site. Once you have their company-specific URL, paste it in the Review URL field. That’s it!

Our blog will be busy for the next few weeks while we dive into each and every module offered on the platform. Keep checking back to learn more, or sign up today and get our step-by-step Mobile Platform Manual that will walk you through every feature available on our mobile websites!

Among devices other than iPhones and Androids, the iOS platform once again rules. iPads have shown a steady rise since the beginning of the year (although they have stagnated in the past couple of months). The Windows Mobile platform, non-existent last year also has started garnering some traffic of late (albeit it is less than 1%). Poor BlackBerry…like anyone cares!

We will continue to bring these graphs on a monthly basis. Stay tuned…

Adding Photo Galleries to mobile websites is a matter of two clicks. That’s it! Adding photos to the gallery is just as easy.

Hosting the photos elsewhere ensures that your mobile websites will never be slowed down by bulky images. You can also upload Retina (or 2x) images to be displayed by capable devices. Simply copy the URL of the photo and paste it in the Image URL field. Thumbnails will be automatically generated, but if you have a specific thumbnail that you want displayed, you can enter that URL as well. Title your image and you’re all done! The images will be resized to fit mobile devices.

Here’s a preview of a photo gallery:

Once a specific picture is clicked on, users have the option to scroll through the images or to go back to the main Photo Gallery.

To experience it yourself, visit m.mobifriendly.com/apartment-demo from your mobile device. Now there’s no excuse to have anything less than picture perfect mobile galleries!

Our blog will be busy for the next few weeks while we dive into each and every module offered on the platform. Keep checking back to learn more, or sign up today and get our step-by-step Mobile Platform Manual that will walk you through every feature available on our mobile websites!