Friday 6 July 2007

The Mobile Internet Opportunity

I for one am passionate about the opportunity the mobile internet represents to the recruitment industries.

It hit my radar back in early 2006 at REC, when an organisation called asap Plc www.asapplc.com approached us regarding the mobile internet and how it could impact on the classified marketplaces.

The latest figures by the Mobile Data Association suggest 15 million people accessed the mobile web in April this year, a rise of 1 million users on the previous month. The increase in usage is yet another clear sign that mobile web browsing is on the map and with the significant role interactive job search plays in our everyday lives, it is perhaps the right time for recruiters to understand how they can capitalise on the mobile opportunity.

Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, Google, MSN eBay and Yahoo are now all making big plays in mobile, plus more recently Vodafone went public on 6th June to launch their 'all you can eat' mobile data service.

Some notable job board brands have gone mobile too, Jobserve, S1 and SecsintheCity, so is mobile the next big thing? Well many agree of course it is and it's only a matter of time before consumers start to receive real value from internet access on the move and the mobile internet goldrush starts with earnest.