I have researched high school students. Guess what is the most common thing they do on their phone…

answer: texting. (even more than talking – wow)

You can see the research here if you wish:
http://blog.mongooseresearch.com/2009/04/texting-is-the-most-common-use-of-mobile-phones.html

For marketing, we have 3 options:
1) a mobile web site (which can now be very nice if done well)
2) a native phone specific application (iphone, bberry)
3) Texting.. SMS. MMS is an option but low quality kills the deal.

The third optional is already the most popular (see above). The key is to leverage this existing behavior. The Mongoose Mobile Platform is SMS based.. simple texting. It is what people what – to communicate – stay in touch – on their terms. On an admissions site.. it is implemented as a value-add service to prospective students to manage their mobile updates… be reminded of important admissions dates. Be notified when there is an event in their area. Helpful things like that.

Mongoose is partnering with St. Mary’s University (TX) on the initial implementation of the technology. We are excited to examine how adding more touch points to the admissions cycle (Mobile Updates) will have an effect on conversion and yield. …that’s all that really matters… right?

We just had our monthly campus Web Developers meeting today and I asked if any department on campus was pursuing either a mobile web initiative or anything with SMS text messaging. The answer was a unanimous “no”. Main reason: budgets. However everyone has started using twitter and most were also using facebook to reach alumni, current students and/or future students. Specifically, one person said [paraphrasing] “I dont have to get permission to do something with Facebook or Twitter. I’m already in charge of sending out this information by email; twitter/facebook is just another avenue to get the information to our customers. Developing a mobile application would require that I get permission first before pursuing it.”

This could change over time, of course, and we will ask the question again. But for now, we don’t see a need to pursue it.

To expand on the giving, there are specific short codes where an opt in user can make a gift that gets added to their mobile bill. It isn’t about $100 gifts but rather using events/media to increase reach and collect a lot of $1 gifts (see Barack Obama campaign). The technology issue is real but choosing to develop apps for IPhone/Blackberry and use WAP sites for the rest creates pretty good coverage. We have found that penetration for smart devices is much higher for college grads than national averages.

Our company is launching mobile platforms for alumni offices at no cost and supporting with advertising. We are also making the revenue available via local advertising for businesses the campuses already have relationships with. Opt in campaigns are performing well, retention will depend on how fresh the content can be maintained. The problem we can’t solve is the resource issue on campus to support.

Imagine how far smartphones have come in the last year… now think another year or two. The long term value just isn’t in mobile apps because they will be able to handle full renderings of websites with flash, javascript, etc soon enough. Heck my Blackberry Storm on my desk right now is a more powerful machine then my first Gateway computer from 1996!

@Kyle – Interesting post. While smart phones do render websites pretty well, I think there are still usability issues. I’ve been playing a bit with some iPhone applications (from newspapers, facebook, linkedin, twitterific) and they are definitely more easy to use than using these websites on my iTouch. It’s doable, it’s true, but the application will get me where I want to go faster.

Smartphone Applications: Just Build for the Web

Currently iPhone has lost mobile leadership to the Blackberry Curve and Palm is releasing their new phone shortly.

In short, I understand and appreciate the desire to push ahead in this new arena, but until there is some standardization, we can do no more than baby-step our way around.

Just my two cents.

I really appreciate your taking the time to share your experience and research in such a detailed comment – especially from your BlackBerry (which, BTW, probably speaks a lot about the power of mobile web access devices even though you’re not representative of our traditional target audience – OK, I’m teasing you here ;-)

Now your point about accessibility/standards is right on target – that is definitely a way to serve our audiences no matter which devices (computer or mobile phone) they use.

I’m really not trying to point fingers to anybody – just to stir the pot and get some conversations going around this topic.

re: Twitter. Did you actually get a chance to ask students requesting more Twitter updates how they were going to check these — using a computer or another device?