In February 2011, Google hosted an event entitled “Think Mobile” (see a recording of the livestream). The event was focused on trends of the mobile web and how companies of all types and sizes should be executing on being part of the move to mobile.

I found some interesting takeaways from the opening remarks, that not only frame the mobile opportunity, but also highlight the urgency of acting now.

1. The Consumer is on the mobile web today
- Google has seen a 400% increase in searches from mobile in the last year

2. Mobile technology will create the largest technical market in history
- Today there are 1.9 billion people on wired web, 5 billion on phones and those 5 billion are coming to the mobile web in a very short time

3. The pace of change faster than anything that has come before
- The switch from wired web access to the mobile web will be very fast. (See our post “Three Significant Mobile Web Trends Every Marketer Should Understand“)

4. For your business, you need to act now
- It is essential to get the basics right today

For this last point, Mary Meeker, a noted technology analyst now with Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, had this to say when asked,

“What advice do you have for companies seeking to build a mobile presence?”

Every senior employee at the company, every week, should go to a series of mobile devices, whether its an Adroid device or an iPhone or an iPad or a Nokia device or a BlackBerry, and test out their own user experience to make sure its effective and good. And if they don’t like using it then their customers aren’t going to like using it. So the first thing is to actually get on the platform, then experiment.

– Mary Meeker, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrNQ_Y3V8E8?rel=0&w=560&h=349]