By: Dean Collins

Dean Collins — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 10:28:23 +0000

Hi JD,

The issue with Mobile Analytics and google is simple - it doesn’t work.

Less than 5% of mobile handsets run javascript and that number while changing wont be a representative percentage of the mobile market for at least 3-4 years so until then you’ll need to choose an alternative if you want to track visitors.

There are a number of alternatives (even some free ones…..with catches), most of them however require you to become part of an advertising consortium or you have to put one of their logos on your application.

At the end of the day thought the real problem is they still use some form of javascripting or page tagging which adds additional weight to page loads (sometimes as much as 20%).

Check out the 4 page pdf at http://www.amethon.com/Content_Common/pg-Mobile-Analytics.seo which explains why wireline capture or log file analysis is the only real way to implement analytics without lag.

http://www.Amethon.com has a solution uses real time wireline capture, you can actually see real time traffic and reports (no one else can offer that).

Rather than relying on logfile analysis, embedded artifacts or client-side java scripts, Amethons Mobile Analytics captures the underlying TCP/IP traffic to your webservers.

Statistics provided includes:

Bandwidth (total, average per visit, total per file type)
Hits (average per visit, number of downloads, page view breakdown)
Visits (entry page, average duration, click paths, referring search engine)
Visitors (browser type, user agent, operating system)
Handsets (make, model, screen resolution)
Mobile Operator (country of origin, operator name)
Geo Location (country of origin, RDNS lookup)

It’s not free though - however most of our customers pay less than $250 a month for all this functionality on an ASP basis.

The important thing to understand about mobile is that if you dont monitor traffic it’s worse than desktop ignorance.

With such variety in screen sizes, mobile OS and handset variations what you think your application/content visitors are seeing may not be the case….if you are wondering why you are not getting more traffic there could be a really good reason.

With amethon you’ll be able to understand everything about the handsets that are visiting your site (and how long they are staying).

Anyway hope that was of interest, if you want to chat I work in the New York office or give the guys a call in Sydney if that time zone suits you better.

Cheers,
Dean Collins
http://www.Amethon.com