On overview of the wireless device usage in the U.S., and a description of the development of the Washington State Department of Transportation's (WSDOT) new mobile phone apps.
1. Transportation Agencies and the Mobile ‘App’ Why hitting a moving target is so important … Lloyd D. Brown, Director of Communications NTPAW 2010 Annual Meeting, Boise, Idaho September 16, 2010
2. Why shoot for a moving target? Here’s what we’ll cover: Mobile devices: That’s where the people are! If you don’t build it, someone else will. WSDOT’s App 9/16/2010 2
3. General Internet demographics 74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the Internet Source: http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Internet-broadband-and-cell-phone-statistics/Report.aspx 9/16/2010 3
4. How do people access the Internet? 60% of American adults use broadband connections at home 55% of American adults connect to the Internet wirelessly 83% of adults have cell phones or smartphones and, among them, 35% have accessed the Internet via their phone. 9/16/2010 4
5. Connected devices are here to stay iPhones Android phones Blackberry phones Microsoft phones Kindles iPads Netbooks Photo by PACMan3000 9/16/2010 5
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7. Mobile phones open opportunities New York Times: “Other cultural forces aside, minorities, lower-income households and younger adults access the Internet at higher rates on mobile devices because they often do not have computers at home.” Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/02/technology/02drill.html?_r=1 Photo by Ed Yourdon 9/16/2010 8
8. Consider this … Tweens (8-14) have always known life with mobile phones and Internet! A study conducted by Walt Disney across six European countries – UK, Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Poland showed the following usage behavior among pre-teens Number of kids who access the Internet : 80% Tweenswho use Internet for games : 74% Tweenswho use Internet for homework : 59% Favorite way to communicate with friends Face-to-face communication : 30% SMS : 15% Online chat : 14% Cell Phone : 10% Source: http://www.brandrepublic.com/News/976825/Gaming-popular-internet-activity-tweens/ 9/16/2010 9
9. The major players … Apple's App Store: 250,000 applications Google's Android Store: 80,000 applications (up from 30,000 just six months ago) “Smartphones that run on Google's Android operating system also are expected to outsell iPhones this year. IDC, another tech research firm, estimates that by 2014, Android devices will hold world-wide market share of 25% while the iPhone's share will drop to 11% from 15% this year.” Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704644404575481471217581344.html?mod=WSJ_Tech_LEFTTopNews 9/16/2010 10
10. The mobile ‘app’ is the next step Since 1990s, government has increasingly turned to Internet as a way to more efficiently provide services. In the last decade, government agencies have embraced social networking tools as a way to engage WSDOT already uses Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, Blogspot and Twitter to engage with the public. 9/16/2010 11
11. Let’s look at the WSDOT web stats WSDOT has seen growth in percentage of web page views from mobile phones. Web site averages 25 million page views each month On average, 1.5 million page views each month are from mobile browsers Top mobile devices accessing the web site: iPhone Android OS iPad 9/16/2010 12
12. If you don’t build it, someone else will Before WSDOT launched its app, others were already ‘selling’ its data. 9/16/2010 13
13. What’s in WSDOT’s app? Modeled from content in Whitehouse.gov iPhone app The WSDOT app offers direct access to traffic information, as well as agency promotional information Started with Android app, moved to iPhone OS 9/16/2010 14
15. The pay off … What people really want is traffic information 9/16/2010 16
16. What’s the response so far? User comments vary: *** Works good for what it is *** Force closes often when in maps...but good start of a useful tool * This app sucks ***** Ridiculous and awesome! Everything in the palm of your hand ***** Keeps getting better and better! Great work, DOT! ***** This app is fantastic! iPhone app 7,267 downloads 26 ratings 3 stars Android app 12,939 downloads 7,941 active installs 205ratings 4.5 stars 9/16/2010 17 Source: WSDOT data through Tuesday, Sept. 14, 2010
17. WSDOT’s app plan WSDOT chose to write its code in house. That source code is now available for use at http://github.com/wsdot/. Technical questions? contact Jeremy Bertrand, WSDO T web guru, at bertraj@wsdot.wa.gov. 9/16/2010 18
18. Conclusion Our business has changed tremendously, mobile apps are the next step. The explosion of wireless devices is creating a culture of ‘apps’ The people are already there. If we aren’t filling the demand, someone else will. 9/16/2010 19
19. Transportation Agencies and the Mobile ‘App’ Contact: Lloyd D. Brown, Director of Communications American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (202) 624-5802 office (202) 907-3434 cell lbrown@aashto.org 9/16/2010 20