Is an iPad a Mobile Device?

By Mike Duffy, Director, Product Design – Product Management & Strategy

Is an iPad a mobile device? Most people I have asked start to give an immediate answer of “Yes” but then they hesitate as they really think about what I am asking. Google (or insert favorite search engine) the question and you will see that there is no consensus on the answer.

Digging deeper you will discover that the answer to the question changes depending upon why it is being asked. The iPad is a device that you can carry with you so it is “mobile” but many companies that support both a mobilized online site as well as a traditional PC site have chosen to serve the PC version and not the mobile version to iPads. A usage report for these sites would probably include iPad traffic in the non mobile category. For this situation the answer to the question is now “no”.

As we define our future online ticketing experience it is critical that we focus on how our customers will be interacting with our systems. We look at customer’s physical location, their device screen size, their device’s interaction capabilities (touch screen, mouse) and their market expectation. A tablet’s screen size is closer to a small laptop but includes a touch screen like most smart phones. Stretching a smartphone interface to fit the larger screen tablet does not make efficient use of the increased screen real estate. In some cases shrinking the traditional PC interface to fit the tablet may make better sense in the short term but doesn’t capitalize on the tactile interaction between the user and the device, or the mobility of the device. Solutions include the creation of a mobile application specifically designed for the tablet interface (see our other blog entries) or the creation of a device specific online interface.

As you can see from the graph below, the iPad and other tablets are changing the definition of “mobile” as their use becomes more prevalent. As the technology continues to evolve we will need to define a more granular device classification system. The real question should be; “How do we optimize our customer’s experience for whichever device they choose to use?”