Michigan Announces Launch of Mobile Access to Web Portal
Lansing, MI-- Over 4.5 million visitors to the state’s web site use cell phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other mobile devices to access online services. In answer to this increasing demand, Michigan has launched a new mobile version of the State web portal, mobile.mi.gov.
“We realize that our citizens want access to state services from anywhere at any time,” commented Ken Theis, Chief Deputy Director for the Michigan Department of Information Technology. “This is another giant step to meeting that demand.”
The mobile portal initiative and its design was heavily influenced by a focus group composed of Michigan.gov web portal visitors who use mobile devices daily to access information over the Internet. The focus group was requested to participate in a survey to help identify services and information for mobile access. The survey results determined the design for the mobile content navigation. Before public launch, the same focus group tested the site and provided positive feedback on the overall strategy and design.
“We kept the end user directly in the mix,” added Theis. “The focus group was instrumental, helping us design the portal based on feedback from those that want it the most.”
The popular mobile.mi.gov portal navigates to some of the most popular content of the State of Michigan portal. Michigan government news, state agency information, and lottery numbers are easily accessed in a mobile-friendly format. The simple navigation scheme and paging feature ensures fast access to the information.
The e-Michigan Web Development team at the Michigan Department of Information Technology designed mobile.mi.gov to be compatible with mobile devices that use wireless application protocol (WAP), which is an open international standard for applications that use wireless communication. To hook up, point your mobile device browser to http://mobile.mi.gov .
