Ah, the mobile or “handy” as the Germans call it. It’s changing almost everything in the AV industry.

Suddenly your “handy” gets brains and then the rest of us need to graduate to being smart about mobility.

Let’s take an example of a museum. AV typically supplies a number of services to museums to help museum visitors find their way around, learn about exhibits and learn by interacting with information provided by the experts of the museum. From wayfinding, to displays, to interactive touchscreen content, to PA systems to video security cameras…AV is embedded in almost every museum.

So when a famous museum, The Victoria & Albert in London, executes an important study about the impact of mobile technology on visitors…then the result should be of interest to those of us selling AV technology to museums and other public-attracting organizations.

The V&A Executive Summary shows almost two thirds of visitors to the V&A own a smartphone and carry it with them in daily life and on their visit to the Museum.

More than a third of V&A visitors own a tablet device. A smaller proportion of visitors bring their tablets to the museum so V&A concluded in the near term the tablet opportunity is associated with content and/or experiences to be consumed at home rather than on site.

Given a correlation between smartphone ownership and tablet ownership, V&A thinks there is also an opportunity to cross-market – using tablet-based experiences to encourage visits to the museum and promote smartphone based experiences whilst visiting.

The V&A audience are enthusiastic about the free Wifi service provided by the Museum and the idea of accessing museum content. However, low awareness is having a significant impact on the proportion of visitors who are using the system. Communicating both the availability of the system and its benefits is crucial to success.

Users find the V&A’s wifi service easy to access but are less positive about the strength of connection. Given appropriate promotion and some improvements to the robustness of the connectivity one could expect significant levels of take-up.

Today’s cost of international roaming mobile access (i.e. data) means that access to free

wifi is absolutely crucial in reaching foreign visitors – who comprised just under half of all visitors according to the 2011-2012 annual visitor survey - it is also an important factor in supporting the domestic audiences as well many of whom have limited data in their pay plans.

The majority of V&A visitors – and particularly those who are younger and reside in the UK do not typically use “museum audioguides.” These younger visitors express a preference for using their own device, citing most often its convenience and familiarity.

However, given that they are not traditional tour takers, the nature of the experiences and/or content they would find appealing is less clear.

In the short term smartphones present a significant opportunity to connect with younger audiences. This will need to be considered when determining the type of experiences and content created.

In the medium term ownership is likely to extend across the age range. However, it will continue to be important to consider the different ways in which various age groups think about and use their devices.

The majority of smartphone owners visiting the V&A are already using their phones to enhance their cultural visits. There is an opportunity to leverage these existing behaviours to meet the Museum’s mission.

Building on and shaping their existing activities – photography for example - offers the most immediate opportunity, but supporting their searches for information is also a rich area for development right now.

There’s a lot more in the full study (link below) but all the rich applications smartphones could bring to the museum experience are lost if the museum doesn’t offer free and powerful wifi and use it especially reach out to younger visitors who believe in BYOD (Bring Your Own Device).

Go V&A Study