There’s a new war waging in the mobile industry. We all know that handhelds, such as Blackberry’s and Palm’s, have been available for a long time, but the the target market has been a savvy user.

When Apple released the iPhone, it was touted as the next revolution in technology. The sales of the new iPhone were phenomenal. Approximately 1 million handsets in 3 days – 231 handsets per second.

The iPhone is an evolution in handhelds (smartphones). It brings the internet within easy reach of the average consumer through it’s user friendly interface.

Cue – Android.

To the average mobile user – it looks similar to the iPhone technology. The interface is iconic and therefore user friendly. It gives the user full access to the internet. Most importantly – Google own the technology. It is predicted that Android smartphone sales will outstrip iPhone sales by 2012, in a new report by market researcher Informa Telecoms & Media .

Now stop and think. What does this new technology do for website marketing?

A mobile version of your website is now more important than ever.

The vehicles for advertising have moved from print to online. The way we access the internet will change over time to more convenient methods. It may be hard to justify the expense of getting a professional developer to create a mobile version of your website, but there are current online services that can help.

• Produce a RSS feed. There is a plugin for the popular WordPress blog software.
• Wirenode, offers templates to get you started with limited customisation.
• Google Mobile Optimizer is quick and easy, but ugly.

Start thinking about your customers. Do they own an Apple iPhone or Google phone? How will they find you?