Mobile viewing is growing rapidly and is especially useful for webinars and learning. Mobile access to ON24 webcasts events grew 300 percent last year and is expected to double in the next year. To adapt to the mobile environment, ON24 this week debuted a new technology that automatically optimizes viewing of its webcasts and virtual learning events for mobile devices.
Dubbed ON24 MOVE (Mobile Virtual Environments), the service provides an HTML5-based virtual environment for tablets and a more content-focused compact view for smartphones.
The platform automatically detects what device the user has and serves up the appropriate version of the event. Previously, viewers who entered a virtual event on a tablet were shown the portal view that did not include the graphical location and booth appearance, for example, available to desktop and laptop viewers.
These familiar 3D virtual environments that users see on desktop screens are now automatically configured by ON24 for tablet screens without the need for additional customization. “Our tablet offering works ‘out of the box.’ Other vendors require significant additional customization for tablet support,” says ON24 CTO and Chief Product Officer Jayesh Sahasi.
New features for tablets include:
- Auto-detection of phones and tablets.
- Immersive 3D virtual locations.
- Gestures/touch-based control – like swiping to navigate between locations.
- Videos and animations.
- Group chat.
- Content search.
- Booth representative listings.
Tablet users can enter the virtual locations to navigate to booths, engage in chat, view and download documents, and network with other attendees.
“Our virtual environments are now fully supported across the continuum of computing form factors—smartphones, tablets, laptops and desktops—further extending the potential reach of an environment,” says Sahasi. “With ON24 MOVE, virtual communications solutions come to life on the iPad and other mobile devices.” Unlike alternative solutions which are just a “re-display” of the desktop version, Sahasi says, ON24’s solutions are truly optimized from the ground up for tablets and mobile phones.