It's due to Apple that the mobile market has taken off and it where it is today. The issue: Should tech comm get involved in mobile? Heard the same question in 1991 with online help (because it's so programmatic)? If we don't, someone else will.
Here, we'll look at web apps and eBooks from help authoring tools (HATs). Simply porting to small screen will work somewhat well, but there are design issues.
eBooks are largely linear formats that sit on a mobile devcie and are good for stable, linear material.
Apps are highly focused, largely for "micro-tasking." This issue becomes important when converting online help to mobile. There are 3 types of apps: native, web, and hybrid.
Mobile in tech comm is still now, and many companies aren't yet sure of the need for tech comm resources for mobile. It requires new skills, and we until recently, don't have the tools (at least the tools that made it easy). Compared to tech comm, apps are different. Apps can be heavily text-based.
Terminology mixups can spell disaster.
If you already know a HAT, you have to learn only a few extra things to produce mobile. They can keep you out of the code and reduce errors, and they also set the proper boundaries for you, letting you focus on content and design. HATs don't give you some features though.
Some content design points: Images can be too wide for phone screens. Use relative, not fixed, width measurements. Margins can also be too large. Don't use large or complex tables.
Trying to convert websites and its content to mobile usually results in a poor experience. You should redesign your content before you multichannel publish it. You then get a smooth format to mobile. There's going to be a lot of work cleaning up legacy content.
Spend as much time in designing your app as you do developing your app.
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