I've been following the #bdconf this week and I found two GREAT sources of information:

A guide to mobile statistics, how to use them and where to find them

A chart explaining HTML5 functions

A round-up of mobile web app versus native app discussions. More to come.....send along any links that have been missed.

Why mobile web apps should stop trying to act like native apps

"Pretenders are mobile Web apps that try to replicate the native experience. You’ve no doubt seen Web apps with iPhone-style back buttons, awkward attempts at implementing gestures, laggy scrolling and the like."

HTML5 Is An Oncoming Train, But Native App Development Is An Oncoming Rocket Ship

iOS 5 Brings Native-Style Scrolling to Web Apps

A "new inherited CSS property, -webkit-overflow-scrolling, is available," these notes explain. "The value touch allows the Web developer to opt in to native-style scrolling in an overflow:scroll element."

Facebook’s Focus In 2011: Better Cross-Platform Unification Led By HTML5

“When we update something, there are about 7 different versions we have to update,” Taylor said. He rattled off a few: facebook.com, m.facebook.com, touch.facebook.com, the iPhone version, the Android version, etc. “It’s an incredible challenge,” he said. “And there’s feature-skew,” he continued. ... He did acknowledge that HTML5 was still a bit quirky when compared to native applications. “But the gap is closing,” Taylor concluded. Google Continues To Embrace Native iPhone Apps As Google Translate Hits App Store "Google Translate has previously been available on the iPhone via an HTML5 experience since mid 2008. But again, now iPhone users are getting a native experience with some significant new additions." Scrollability, New iOS Physics Project from Facebook for iPhone Creator, Joe Hewitt

The goal of Scrollability is to give mobile Web applications "a pretty darn good approximation of native scrolling," the description reads on GitHub.

The State Of Web Development Ripped Apart In 25 Tweets By One Man

"As someone who has tried to do both cutting edge native and web iPhone apps, iPhone Safari is a joke compared to iPhone Cocoa."

The myth of the “native” app

"I think the basic point should be emerging. Users really aren’t all that concerned that an app “follows the conventions of a native app”. Like much to do with these debates, such observations are mere assertions, unsupported by any evidence. From the perspective of the user, the “native” app is a myth. If “nativity” were such a compelling user desire, would 90% of the top paid iPhone Apps use little if any CocoaTouch UI elements? ... When building web apps, don’t ape “native” (that is iOS) user experiences. User’s it would seem don’t actually give a damn."

Some recent iPad, tablet and media related research. Add in comments other interesting links and information.

Google Survey Reveals How We Use Our iPads [ReadWriteWeb]

• 43% of respondents spend more time with their tablet than with their desktop/laptop.
• One in three respondents spend more time with their tablet than they do watching TV.

Usability of iPad Apps and Websites: First Research Findings [Nielsen Norman Group]

• This free report is based on usability studies with real users, reporting how they actually used a broad variety of iPad apps as well as websites accessed on the iPad.

iPad news apps may diminish newspaper print subscriptions in 2011 [Reynolds Journalism Institute]

• Users are predominantly well-educated, affluent men between the ages of 35 and 64 who tend to be early adopters.
• Keeping up with news and current events is their most popular main use.
• iPad news consumers prefer newspaper apps to newspaper websites; less likely to use print.

One-Third of iPad Owners Don't Use Apps [Tabletedia]

• Almost one-third of iPad owners have never downloaded any apps for the device, a recently released study suggests.
• 25% of U.S. citizens own a smartphone, 8 percent own netbooks, 6 percent e-readers and 4 percent own tablet computers.

Survey Says: The iPad Is Not A Kindle Killer [TechCrunch]

• While plenty of people predicted that the iPad would kill the Kindle when it first came out (including us), that turned out to be wrong. Very wrong. The Kindle went on to become the best selling product in Amazon’s history over the holidays, selling an estimated 8 million units last year.

iPad Opinion Profile [MyType]

• iPad owners are best characterized as selfish elites. Wealthier, older and more educated, they are sophisticated, highly value power and achievement, and are not very kind or altruistic.
• iPad critics, on the other hand, tend to be independent geeks: self-directed young people who look down on conformity and are interested in video games, computers, electronics, science and the internet.

iPad magazine says readers very responsive [Sideways]

• The lead interests of responders were technology, the iPad, iPod and books. Respondents were least interested in sports and relationships.

Confirmed: Consumer Engagement on the iPad Is Complex [AudienceDevelopment.com]

• Key findings have revealed that user interaction on the device is "complex." Results are being crunched from 24 million data points, but the companies have zeroed in on three engagement elements:
• Visual Attention: the ad's ability to grab the reader and keep him on the page
• Accessibility: whether the ad has "entry points" that enable the user to engage the iPad's swiping and tapping features
• Propulsion: whether those entry points actually engaged the reader, pulling him deeper into the experience

iPad users big consumers of news content [Yahoo]

• In the U.S., the gender split is 64 to 36 percent, male to female, and that figures holds true internationally, with the exception of Japan where the iPad audience is 80 percent male.
• IPad users are also nearly three times more likely to search for content related to investments, according to the analysis.

Apple iPad Trend Data Commences New Mobclix Index Series [mobclix]

• Compared to standard display banner ads on the iPad, rich media video ads have click-through rates that are 11 times higher.
• The time spent by iPad users on their gaming apps is three times higher (about 10 minutes more) than iPhone users on the same app.

Apple iPad users most receptive to ads [Vator News]

• iPad owners are more  receptive to the idea of having  advertising on their touchscreen tablet, than owners of other devices. Of course, if you go this route, you are going to have to go interactive. That is, if you want your end users to enjoy it. 46% of iPad owners say they enjoy ads, with interactive features. This is a significantly larger group, than the general connected device owners, who come in at about  27% enjoying the ads.

Who is Buying the iPad, and Will They Also Buy an iPhone? [Nielsen]

• Only about 15% of iPad users are more than 56 years old compared to 33% of all mobile subscribers. While we observe a typical increase in users in the 18 to 24 segment, the real shift is in 25 to 36 year-olds. The data is clear: Affluent 25 to 36 year olds are fertile ground for Apple products.

iPad research initiative [Pepperdine University]

• Pepperdine University's Information Technology administration and Technology and Learning group are working with Pepperdine faculty to assess the effectiveness of the iPad as a learning tool. Beginning in fall 2010, and continuing in spring 2011 and fall 2011, this study will compare student learning outcomes in the control and experiment sections for each course.

Is Mobile Affecting When We Read? [Read It Later]

• The graph of when users are reading on the iPad shows the biggest time for reading: personal prime time.

Apple Announces 100 Million iPhones, 15 Million iPads Sold [TechCrunch]

• Apple CEO Steve Jobs noted, “That’s more than every tablet PC ever sold.“

Seven’s ‘Generation i’ Survey looks at UK iPad audience behaviour [U Talk Marketing]

• Over half (51%) of iPad owners who had read magazines both in print and in interactive format on the iPad preferred the experience on Apple's multimedia device.
• 53% of iPad owners say they use their device mainly for entertainment, three times as many as the 18% who say they use it for more functional purposes.

List of Best Magazine & Newspaper Apps of 2010 [iMonitor]

• The list is based on the iMonitor rating system which scores each app based on its design, functionality, and use of rich content. Each variable is evaluated on a five-point scale and rolled up into a single App Rating with a maximum potential value of 15.

Nobody Predicted The iPad’s Growth. Nobody. [TechCrunch]

• The highest Wall Street estimate from April was 7 million (Brian Marshall of Broadpoint AmTech).

Check out this interesting "The Daily" social networking research and analysis provided by @jbenton on the Nieman Journalism Lab blog.

Calling all journalism instructors - please take *this survey* to help out @girljournalist with her research about the practices (or lack therof) of mobile education in journalism programs.

The results are in from an online survey about mobile news alerts.

The file of results is attached - please comment with what you think about the results!

Here is a summary version of some highlights from the survey:

Click here to download:

News_Alert_Survey-Results_081810.xls (75 KB)

(download)

Click here to download:

News_Alert_Survey-Results_081810.xls (75 KB)

Smartphones are now 31 percent of all the United States subscription base, according to this 2nd quarter wireless report.

Some other interesting finds in the report:

• In the second quarter the U.S. averaged around 639 text messages per user per month.
• "There is a significant shift taking place in terms of app revenues. In 2010, there will be more revenues generated (globally) from off-deck than on-deck for the first time and while the on-deck revenues are in billions, the decline trend looks irreversible. In the US, this shift will occur next year."
  • Translation: In the early days of mobile apps only got onto phones by getting "on the deck" - meaning pre-installed on phones or included in a very limited app store. These stores and apps were controlled by wireless companies. Today "off the deck" apps are possible because of the Android Marketplace (and somewhat the iTunes App Store - though that is still controlled by Apple so I'd call it a hybrid in-between on and off deck).
• Data traffic (non-voice, such as mobile web) is now used significantly more than the voice traffic. In the first half of 2010, the average US consumer was consuming approximately 230 MB/month which is up 50% in 6 month.

In response to Q1 from Wednesday's #wjchat on mobile journalism:

How can news orgs get ahead of the tech curve with mobile & not drag their feet as many did w/ Web?

My answer? Treat mobile as an equal and unique channel.

Do not put the web first. That's what went wrong with print.

Newspapers started adding websites and just ignored them. The newspaper editors designing the websites did not use the web on a regular basis and were still stuck in print-first thinking.

The same thing is happening with mobile. Various forecasts look at mobile's growth:

• Forecast: Mobile Web Access To Surpass PCs In 2013 By More Than 100 Million
• Mobile Explosion will Surpass Desktop: Morgan Stanley
• Google sees mobile ad rates passing PC rates

Remember when people ignored the web? How some people clung to newspapers shouting "No!" and a few people said "Yes!" and started preparing?

Morgan Stanley’s Mary Meeker, was one of the analysts who predicted the original Internet boom. Her report says that "the mobile Internet is ramping faster than desktop Internet did."

My point? Stop just reading about mobile and making a product here or there. Build a strategy for your newsroom. Start innovating. And, if you want, join this Posterous - any one can join - just send me your e-mail in the comments or to sonyanews at gmail.com or @sonyanews.

Mojos Unite!