Twitter is my sticky mobile application, what’s yours?

Working at a telco and before that an equipment vendor, I’ve had access to the mobile internet in one form or another for a long time. I started using it in the early days of WAP and have been a regular user ever since.

In all that time I’ve never really found a mobile application or service that I used continually day-in and day-out without fail. In fact, I’ve been sceptical that I would ever find an application that would make me want to use it that often on the mobile, both because of

1. the clunky interfaces of most mobiles, and
2. the lack of my coming across any really interesting services.

That has all changed. I now access a certain mobile application probably 4 to 5 times a day on my mobile, not just to passively read it, but also to input as well. It has become what is called a “sticky” application. That application is Twitter. Yes, it has only been a couple of weeks since I started using Twitter, but I cant see this behaviour changing anytime soon.

Why has this happened? There are three main reasons I can think of:

• Devices – Mobile handsets, and specifically “smartphones” are much more suited to mobile Internet usage than any devices have been in the past. I use a Samsung Blackjack which has  a nice screen and full text keyboard, as well as HSDPA access to the internet. Its a breeze to use in accessing the mobile Twitter site, scrolling pages and inputting text.
• Application providers - Companies like Twitter (amongst others) are a lot smarter these days in developing their mobile sites. Whereas in the past most companies tried to base their mobile sites on their traditioanl websites, in most cases without a great result, companies are now taking the time to consider what functions users would want to access on their mobile sites, and building the sites to cater for this. Whilst the Twitter mobile site is not brilliant, it certainly provides me with the functions I need.
• Social Networks – Most social networks encourage frequent access by users to update, view and interact iwth other users. Twitter is no different. When I am not in front of my PC I feel like I might be missing some interesting Tweets and want to see what’s going on in the stream of conversations in the service. It is for this reason I use the mobile to access the site, and keep doing it throughout the day.

All of this would be music to the ears of any mobile telco, all of which strive to encourage their customers to use the mobile internet as much as possible with the hope of charging them for this usage. Whilst I am somewhat of a special case in that I work for one, I can see mobile applications like Twitter significantly increasing mobile internet usage for all telcos, if they get their business models and charging regimes right!!!

Of course, I cant see Twitter being everyone’s sticky mobile application as it probably would only appeal to a certain part of the population. Instead, I foresee a range of mobile applications targetting different market segments being the ones that gain popularity and drive mobile internet usage.

What is your “sticky” mobile application? Do you have one yet?