I was shown some really insightful mobile trends by Christian Lindholm & team at Fjord Design recently. Not only do they produce the information ia powerful, graphical manner, but you can tell there is some real insight behind the research.
Most of what they say is not new news. What is new though is the certainty with which this could impact organisations in the coming months – and probably without them realising it. This is what I refer to as disruptive horizon and is the key theme behind the current book that I am writing, “Surviving the Digital Tsunami”.
Here are three I particularly liked. You can find out more at www.Fjord.com
App Stores are digital Innovation Bazaars
Nowhere in the industry can the future of mobility be seen as clearly as in Apple‟s App Store.2009 will be a year of wonderful digital bazaars full of innovative apps and services from developers around the world. Homebrew computing will be reborn.
Prediction: The long tail of the App Store will allow the iPhone to attract great content and emerge as a true mobile gaming platform that puts pressure on the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.
These real revenue and brand exposure opportunities will start a tornado of innovation, investment, and competition that will delight users and finally unlock the potential of smartphones as open platforms. Operators, Nokia and even the major Internet portals such as Amazon, eBay, Google, MSN, and Yahoo will fight for control of these new marketplaces.
Cloud Computing
Mobile phones become true life recorders as Moore‟s Law drives processing power and memory density up and costs down. Everything you record is sent to the Cloud. These Cloud-based services safely store and effortlessly share your life. The PC is displaced as the hub and takes its place as a powerful but non-mobile client.
Prediction: In the developed world, Outlook is no longer the sole repository of all personal information. The PC continues its displacement from being the primary digital hub into a powerful client that is best used sitting down at home or work.
In the emerging economies and for mobile-centric teens there are even fewer reasons to centre your digital life around a PC as Cloud-based services are cheaper and more accessible, Interconnected and reliable.
TV finally goes mobile
Timeshifting, placeshifting and episodification of visually rich audio/visual content is creating a TV revolution in which content is decoupled from the constraints of the broadcast model and mobile-enabled in both the time and place. “Transmedia” content is now available on multiple devices and consumed when needed. This transformation will be lead by the BBC, Apple and YouTube.
Prediction: We expect the most progressive broadcasters will start to create new forms of content which is centred around content brands, but where the content is available in smaller time chunks. Sport, news and weather will be among the first to evolve.
Microblogging becomes Micromedia
Facebook status updating is addictive and the volume of updates and comments is growing explosively. Twitter has become a conversation and is moving into the mainstream.
Microblogging will evolve from a naval-gazing toy to the Swiss army knife of social media. Its simplicity and openness make it very flexible and adaptable to user needs. It has the potential to combine messaging, sharing, news reading and search. The status field is the new search box.
Location becomes the new service bedrock
Nokia is aggressively investing in location and their strategy of coordinating people‟s lives using maps is compelling. Google is the main challenger with ubiquity on the web and working hard in mobile. Location awareness in mass market phones will lay the foundation.
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