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bet whenever and wherever they want, and still have the same great experience they would expect from desktop. Going forward, we can expect the likes of television and printed material recognition software to provide bettors with innovative new ways to locate betting opportunities. Similarly, geolocation software will direct people who are at a sporting venue to markets relating to events taking place at that time. Push noti?cations, widely used already in the mobile arena, will allow players to express an interest in their favourite team or player with the device’s noti?cation system used to provide a swift route to betting markets concerning that team or player as they arise. eGR: What are your opinions on the shift towards mobile in recent years, and how does this affect product development going forward? PM: The shift to mobile was a natural development as the enhanced technology on devices, coupled with improved bandwidth and connection speeds, was also going to accelerate what people could do with these devices. The huge range of smartphones running dissimilar operating systems – not to mention different screen sizes, resolutions and graphics – means product development can be a long and costly process. Operators must appreciate that people interact with mobiles differently, typically having shorter interactions than those on desktop. A one-size-?ts-all approach has seen developers simply squeeze and resize browser pages for mobile. However, companies that spend the extra money and time to develop programs that recreate the desktop experience on mobile will see returns from customers. EL: Even more so than on the web; the focus through mobile channels is on in-play. In relation to this, operators not only compete with other sportsbooks but they also have to compete for the end-users’ time with apps like Facebook or Twitter. It’s the entertainment value of much shorter sessions that is the differentiator. The man on the bus may have a few minutes to kill on his mobile and as a sportsbook we need to make this the most exciting option; instant action in-play is certainly a good tool for this. An obvious challenge on mobile together with the explosion of new betting opportunities is to present this huge offer in a user-friendly way on a small screen. We meet this challenge by aiming for a seamless experience between platforms where consumers will be familiar with our layouts and concepts.
For in-play, the growth in mobile devices presents a user interface challenge to ensure bet placement is quick, easy and leverages the technology available
Simon Trim, Sporting Solutions
ST: With many operators reporting over 40% of transactions via mobile, and the rise in the tablet as a “second screen” technology, it is clear that these are the channels for the future. For in-play, the growth in mobile devices presents a user interface challenge to ensure bet placement is quick, easy and leverages the technology available. An operator must focus on multiple devices and tailor the interface accordingly. From a product perspective, different channels require different content or even different prices, and our Connect platform allows operators to tailor all their prices and content according to which channel they are populating, and we also offer a number of ‘quick hit’ markets which help operators capitalise on the immediacy of mobile betting. RW: It’s important to make sure content is well-suited to mobile phones, iPads and tablets, to ensure that it’s easy for clients to place a bet via mobile. We are not a traditional bookmaker as we only provide odds, so we don’t have to think too much about user front-ends, but we do have to make sure that the markets we provide are mobile-friendly and well-?tted into the graphics of HTML5, both when it comes to updating prices and in the way the operators present them. It is important to keep things simple and to ensure that clients can place bets fast. You shouldn’t have to scroll to ?nd a bet; it should be there straight away. It is also important to make sure that markets are being settled quickly – a bet on the next corner has to be settled within a minute of the corner being taken. That adds to the customer experience. IZ: The shift towards mobile was inevitable in an era where we can do more than ever on our smart phone. It's an integral and personal part of our lives, making it perfect as a marketing medium. It's the personal nature of mobile that has every bookmaker vying for a spot on your mobile home screen or bookmarks
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