ForArgyll goes Mobile

ForArgyll.com is pleased to announce that it has enabled all of the sites it runs for browsing on mobile phones. A report by Neilson Online has just been issued, confirming that internet usage via mobile phones has increased by 25% as opposed to a growth of 3% on computer-based usage. Over 7.3 million people accessed the internet via their phones in the middle quarters of 2008. This figure seems set to increase significantly, hence For Argyll’s initiative.

This initiative has been triggered in part by the fact that over the last weeks we have run stories of import for people out and about in Argyll:

• Which ferries are running and when?
• Which streets are flooded?
• Where can I get drinking water?
• Where is that fireworks display in Helensburgh?
• What time was the concert / meeting / consultation?

These stories – and all others – can now be accessed from any internet-enabled mobile phone, pda or notepad in a graphically-light easily-navigable format.

Caption: A couple of phones showing our front page an hour or so ago.

We hope this format, which runs beside the normal version of the ForArgyll.com and automagically appears when our software recognises that the new visitor is using a mobile phone rather than a PC, will encourage usage, feedback and involvement from a significantly younger audience, a larger number of whom, the Neilson Online report assures us, connect using their mobiles than the average UK citizen.

Of course the strategic reason for encouraging this sort of usage is to improve the 3G and GPRS networks in Argyll so that they are fit for purpose. At the moment Argyllers get little, none or less than some mobile connectivity and (we hope) more use of that paltry share will encourage the networks to put in more capacity. Afterall, if a new generation of visitors find Argyll well-connected they might think of returning eh?

More detail: Getting Cellular with MobilePress & the ForArgyll WPMU