Carnival of the Mobilists (@cotmobilists) No. 237

Greetings all and welcome to the 237^th raising of the mobile blogging tents at the Carnival of the Mobilists. I’ve got the task of hosting this week and there’s a small, but themed look at things as we wrap up this summer’s postings.

Theme? Well, there’s a bit of a theme to the posts this week around strategy and UX (user experience). For example, Little Springs Design continues on their talk around the design process with Part 2 of their piece Influencing the Requirements Process – Designing Documentation.

If you think about it. It makes sense that we pay attention to designing specs because it is around this documentation that we understand better how people use and enjoy their devices. Both Sachendra Yadav and Ajit Jaokar look at these issues of marketing and behavior in their pieces. Yadav looks at how Microsoft taps into an already existing paradigm in designing towards the mobile-enabled market; and Ajit asks if we are designing mobile security correctly by addressing the behavior of the user or the user’s device itself.

Getting around the device or service is one thing, but you need hard numbers when implementing any approach. MobiThinking asking of why Apple doesn’t give the actual number of downloaded apps (versus other content) points to why missing data can many times be a hindrance to understanding the entire effectiveness of a solution. It could very well be that there’s a market for apps, but for other reasons than sheer ability of the device.

Of course, without the right planning and/or data, you could erupt into some unfounded, Twitter-filled expectations (such as what I did) for your mobile platform of choice. But the theme here is constant, having good data allows you to make good use and strategy choices – or at least enough sense out of the market to get a better idea of where all of those Android handsets are coming from (following the discussion around Asymco‘s piece) and what Google’s strategy jut might be.

In a good sense of the word, speculation doesn’t matter when it comes to mobile. You have to be upfront and honest with what you’d like to do with mobile and with whom. As heard(/seen) in a podcast MSearchgroove recently had with some Brazilian youth, all of your research and speculation doesn’t mean anything if you lose the trust of your user-base. In my opinion, this is the post of the week because it hits on so much of what the other pieces have stated in various contexts.

So, do research, enjoy the present and future mobile has to offer, and make a note to read, follow, or contribute to the next landing of the Carnival of the Mobilists. These and many other bloggers/analysts have a lot to share from around their experiences – more often than not, a common theme or two will emerge, and the show will be a sure thing 😉

Image Credit: Carnival Local Drummer, via Aspex Design
Twitter Link: CotM No 237 via @arjwright