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The new FT.com mobile site will provide customised content for users and more detailed mobile analytics for the title, according to its lead product manager, Stephen Pinches.

By signing a deal with Bango, a mobile analytics provider, FT.com will be able to better track who is using is the site and allow users to store personalised information on their page, Pinches told Journalism.co.uk.

Mobile analytics have always been 'notoriously' problematic, Pinches added, and while there were 'in the millions of page views' for the old mobile site, it was difficult to find out more information.

"[Using Bango] We can prove to advertisers that ads get seen throughout the day and hit the same people in a completely different mode of thinking [for example, on the move]," Pinches further explained.

Bango uses information about the number of unique visitors, their country, network, and handset type to allow the site to be customised.

"We're concentrating on data and really good access to markets data," Pinches said, adding that users will be able to have five or six selected stocks stored on their mobile homepage.

Roll-out is gradual
Changes to the site will be made over time, as the new-look FT.com is rolled out.

New features aimed at registered, basic and premium subscribers, with paid and unpaid elements in line with the site's subscription model, and a specific iPhone application will be introduced, he said.

While the mobile web is used very differently by users from the desktop web, Pinches believes there will be an increase in using mobile sites via direct URLs in the coming year, diversifying which sites are landing sites.

"I think it's going to be a slow burner. I don't think we're going to see an explosion in mobile revenue - a gradual increase in this year and over next year," Pinches added.

The popularity of mobile with a younger demographic - for example with MBA students - has allowed FT mobile to 'reach a new and growing audience', FT.com managing director, Rob Grimshaw, said in a release from the Financial Times.
 
"We asked our tech savvy readers what they wanted to see in the new mobile version of FT.com and we incorporated their feedback into the new site. We found that many of our readers look for an executive briefing from the FT, so we focused on providing quality over quantity of content," he added, in the release.

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