In an attempt to get more merchants in the United Kingdom to upgrade their websites to accept mobile browsers, thus accepting payments from mobile devices, Google Inc. has launched the GetMobile, or GetMo, initiative.
Google pushed a similar program in the United States late last year, essentially providing merchants with information to upgrade their websites to take advantage of the growing number of consumers browsing the Internet through a smartphone.
Websites not adjusted for mobile browsers generally appear too large on a mobile screen and can be difficult for consumers to read or locate navigation buttons.
As part of the GetMo launch on March 14, Google announced vendors it would recommend to merchants as qualified to convert retail websites into mobile-acceptance sites. Those merchants, in turn, issued press releases steering merchants to the Google’s “GoMo” website for information.
Besides providing a list of recommended vendors who can convert sites for mobile acceptance, the GoMo website educates merchants about why mobile payments are increasing in importance and provides demonstrations on what merchant sites look like through a mobile device (
The site recommends such vendors as Atimo Inc., Google Site Builder, Mobify and Netbiscuits Inc. The site also recommends The MoBank Group, which recently announced its mobile website conversion software MoPowered (
MoBank estimates up to 80% of UK merchants operate retail websites that cannot properly accept mobile browsers, which in turn results in as much as £10 billion (US$11.9 billion) in potential annual sales being lost.
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