Presented by Luke Wroblewski.

  • Mobile may be the seventh form of mass media after print, recorded sound, motion pictures, radio, television, and the Internet. Theory posited by Tomi Ahonen.
  • There are more iPhones sold every day than there are babies being born (378,000 vs. 371,000).
  • Android and iOS are taking a huge bite out of personal computing market share.
  • By the end of 2012, there will be more mobile devices connecting to the Internet than there are people on Earth.
  • Mobile is not the desktop, just like desktop is not print.

The Login Dance

  • 82% of users have forgotten a site password.
  • 5-10% of all sessions led to someone forgetting a password and needing to recover it.
  • Steven Hoober: “Mobile must not be a dumbed-down, limited experience.”
  • Use <input type="email" autocapitalize="off" autocomplete="off"> for email address form fields.
  • Box gave a “Show password” option on their login form. Why not flip that around with a “Hide password” button instead?
  • Input Masks: example@me.com (Twitter does this on their mobile login with the @ symbol already filled in.)
  • Quora: “Let me login wihtout a password on this browser” is selected by default. To login later, you simploy tap on a picture of your user (or login as another user, à la Google).
  • Bagcheck: Type your name or email address, auto-complete, then list out possible login approaches that that user has used.
  • The login screen for mobile:
    • Don’t remove critical features
    • Use input types & attributes
    • Show password by default
    • If possible, save passwords
    • Be flexible in what you accept (name, email address, etc.)
  • There’s no reason we can’t do all of the above on desktop, too.

New Capabilities open up New Possibilities

  1. SMS authentication
  2. Touch gestures
  3. Facial recognition
  4. Finger identification
  • Windows 8 picture passwords are a humane way to handle login. Allows for exponentially more permutations than traditional alphanumeric passwords/PINs/etc.
  • Security and usability are not natural enemies.
  • <input type="file" accept="image/*" capture="camera">
  • Galaxy Nexus facial unlock

The Checkout Process

  • 75% abandonment rate in 2011 on online shopping carts. That’s worse than in years prior.
  • Expedia removed the optional “Company” field from their checkout process and upped profits by $12 million overnight.
  • Remove optional fields in mobile. Hide irrelevent controls.
  • Phone number input mask: (___) ___-____
  • Ask for ZIP code, then show a list of potential city and state combinations.
  • <input type="text" pattern="[0-9]">
  • Look at how Square handles entering credit card information for some pretty awesome input masks.
  • Amazon Prime users buy 130% more than non-Prime users thanks to reduced effort (1-Click purchasing, 2-day shipping, etc.).

Mobile-First Checkout Approach

  • Autofill through the Contacts API
  • Local Purchases: Apple’s Apple Store app that geolocates stores near you, purchase online, walk into store, someone presents you with the product you bought without you asking.
  • QR-code based grocery shopping in Korea: subway stations have walls of what appear to be shelves of groceries that customers can scan and have groceries delivered to them at home.
  • Self Checkout at the Apple Store with the Apple Store app.