Ipad Traffic Increasing Dramatically

[CAORYAN]

Recently I have seen an increase in Ipad visits to websites I play with. It's interesting because I suspected this but didn't suspect the amount so quickly. This brought to my attention that many people may not pay much attention to this so I wanted to start a post.

Are you checking Google analytics to see what operating system people are using to visit your site? Well some quick peaks revealed a couple new OS's that have never hit these sites before Playstation 3, Ipad, Iphone, and blackberry. We had as many ipad users as iphone. That surprises me a lot because the iphone to ipad ratio is in the favor of the iphone right now.

What are your thoughts on preparing for a mobile search experience as good as a computer using the IPad?

I know someone that is working on an application for the iphone that will scan a vin number and give you prices on similar vehicles in the area. Are you prepared for that?

[Alex Snyder]

As an iPhone and iPad user I must say that I will always reach for the iPad to hit the Internet before I even consider using the iPhone these days. Safari/Opera on the iPhone have now become "emergency" browsers for me. They're simply there to look something specific up when I don't have a computer or iPad around.

I really enjoy web browsing on the iPad. With two senses being used (touch and sight) I am finding myself doing something I haven't done in years: just surfing the web. I bet I look at more websites in 1 hour on the iPad than I do in 8 hours on my regular computer.

But a major thing we should all be concerned about: iPad bounce rate when there are *too many flash elements on a site.



*too many is completely subjective to the visitor

[CAORYAN]

Great point Alex! I can think of one site provider in particular that will have a lot of issues.

[Jeff Kershner]

I added Mobile Devices to the dashboard of my Google Analytics for DealerRefresh and my dealer websites several months ago. It's been amazing how fast searches from iPad and Android has hit the stats. Android hit fast and hard on the dealership mobile analytics.

[CAORYAN]

Alex, quick question....is the ipad being considered a computer or a mobile when it lands on sites? The reason for asking is because it it is found as a computer than you will have to manually forward to the mobile side if your site is flash. Just curious because I don't have an ipad and need to know.

[Alex Snyder]

Alex, quick question....is the ipad being considered a computer or a mobile when it lands on sites? The reason for asking is because it it is found as a computer than you will have to manually forward to the mobile side if your site is flash. Just curious because I don't have an ipad and need to know.

I'm not sure Ryan. There are some sites that see the iPad as a mobile browser because they serve up the mobile version of their website. And the fact that Google is listing the iPad as a mobile device in analytics has me leaning toward "viewed as a mobile device" but I really don't know.

Is there a way to find out?

[CAORYAN]

Just tested it. Pretty interesting though. It registers as a computer. However you can set manually to read and change to a mobile or a base HTML site if you are a flash site. Pretty cool!

[JoePistell]

...I know someone that is working on an application for the iphone that will scan a vin number and give you prices on similar vehicles in the area. Are you prepared for that?

Ryan, Is that someone you know a car guy? If he was, he'd know it wouldn't produce anything of value to the end user.

Problems:
Any VIN searches will not produce trim data. Trim level detail is needed for it to have value to the end user.

"Scan the VIN" problems.
Where is the VIN? 99.999% of the people out there have no clue where the VIN is. He'll need a database that points the user to the VIN on each car.
Scanning the GM VINs thru the glass has been a gigantic hurdle for years. I wonder if the problem exists with the iphone/droid ?

If he builds it and deploys it, His reviews will be un-kind.

[CAORYAN]

Joe,

i had many of the same questions you do. He wasn't sharing much info with me other than they are working on it. All valid points you bring up and I am agreeing with you on all the negative factors.

[stevenc317]

Without going on a rant here, this does bring up a related discussion. The fact that most car dealer websites have various elements of the site that use Flash. As we all know iPad users cannot see flash.