Partnership Between HomeTownLocator and Modapt Brings Content on U.S. Cities and Towns into Clear View for Mobile Customers

BOSTON, Sept. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Visitors to HTL, Inc.'s U.S. state gazetteer are using mobile devices at a record pace to access online content from the company's website, which provides profiles on 179,000 cities, towns and neighborhoods. In the last year, visitors to HTL's HomeTownLocator series of 50 state gazetteers using mobile devices grew by 237 percent.

"Mobile device users are the fastest growing component of our traffic, so we're moving quickly to adapt our complex content to meet the needs of these visitors," said Matt Smith, co-founder and president of HTL.  "An increasing number of users, for example, are using mobile phones to get driving directions or to identify a hotel along their route.  For people who are on-the-go, ease-of-use is mandatory."  

To improve the experience of customers visiting their site, HTL selected technology from Modapt, Inc. to optimize its website for the mobile web.  Modapt's website-optimizing service quickly and cost-effectively modifies an existing website for any mobile phone that supports web browsing.

Smith solicited other quotes to have his website (http://www.hometownlocator.com/), with more than one million pages, adapted for mobile devices.

"The first vendor said the project would take two dedicated programmers six months to complete at an estimated cost well into the six figures. The Modapt solution was implemented at a fraction of that estimate and in a much shorter timeframe.  It was an easy decision," he said.

Modapt's service builds on the mobile trend by maintaining live real-time integration between the web property and the mobile version.  Any changes made to the main website are adapted to the mobile version synchronously. Modapt includes availability of a device database containing 19,000 individual device profiles used to automatically convert images and other objects to the specific screen and interface specifications for each device.

Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project reports that half of all adult mobile phone users used their phone at least once to get information they needed immediately.  Another 16 percent said they had difficulty reading information on their cell phone; 20 percent said their phones take too long to download content.

"Poor mobile web performance means lost opportunities for business," said Mark Lederhos, Modapt CEO.  "Statistically, the vast majority of users report they are disappointed with their mobile web experience.  We're thrilled that we're able to provide HTL's users with the best mobile web experience possible."

About HomeTownLocator.com

The HomeTownLocator series of 50 state gazetteers provide profiles for 179,000, towns and neighborhoods and other populate places.  The sites also have maps, data and driving directions for 1.8 million physical, cultural and historic features.  The company, HTL, Inc., was established in 2002.  HomeTownLocator ranks in the top 600 most active U.S. websites based on the 2.3 million visitors and 6.2 million page views recorded each month by Quantcast (http://www.quantcast.com/p-famXfNfcmlM8g).

About Modapt

Modapt™ is the only provider of a second generation mobilization middleware platform that enables website publishers to easily adapt their website so that it can be viewed in a user friendly way on any mobile phone that supports web browsing. The service maintains live real-time integration between the web property and the mobile version. Any changes made to the main website are adapted to the mobile version synchronously, on the fly. The company is privately held with offices in Boston and Melbourne, Australia, and is backed by a private equity group. www.modapt.com

SOURCE Modapt, Inc.

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