SpringSters - Mobile Savvy Bunch

Every year, hopefuls in the technology industry predict a revolution in mobile technologies and pronounce that the new year will be the year when mobile finally comes of age and takes the world by storm. Barring some interesting developments, that has not really happened yet. Mobile continues to be perplexing for most people to use for everything except basic calling and text messaging. Clearly, mobile has the potential to be more powerful than providing just two services.

Both these functions are little more than actions that consumers have been used to for years, and as a result, need little change in their behavior. Voice calls work quite the same as telephones that we have been using for at least a century now, and text messaging is quite akin to emails that people are reasonably well used to. Can other applications be built that require minimal changes to consumer behavior, or at least require a couple of simple clicks that one can get used to as quickly as making a voice call on the mobile?

That is the question that many in the industry are trying to answer today, and there are some important tectonic shifts in the mobile industry that are underway that are slated to change this landscape. Here are some of these shifts:

1). For the first time, major software players are entering the erstwhile carrier-dominated mobile industry in a big way. Until now, perhaps only Microsoft was a pure software player with a mobile operating system. They have played in the enterprise mobility market with sophisticated business users and have faired well in that, but have not quite been able to bring it to the masses. No other player (either big enough or creative enough) brought a user interface design to mobile that was intuitive enough for mass users to adopt and for carriers to push.

More than being a hype, Apple’s iPhone is a sign of changing times. Even if it doesn’t itself gain a prominent market share, it is changing how software for mobile is being looked at. The ripple affect it will have will finally bring some serious creativity and ease of use to many mobiles and devices. A simple feature like visual voice mail was something long time coming. The fact that no carrier could think of it is a tell-tale sign of the difference a software and user-interface-oriented company can bring to the table in this industry.

It is still early days to take a call on Google’s Android but if Google is able to translate its simplistic user interface philosophy to the mobile world, that would be a second successful software player that we can talk about. For now, its premature and Google still has to prove itself in this new landscape.

Nokia-backed Symbian is another player that has a powerful and stable platform that can give Apple a run for their money. Symbian interface again lacks the simplicity that a lay user needs and still consists of relatively complex browsing of folders and accessing applications through shortcuts etc. However, with some effort and creativity, they can get it right.

2). The advent of widgets-based design in desktop as well as web will redefine the structure of mobile operating systems at some level. User acceptance of widgets is far more plausible than expecting users to run complex “applications” on their tiny devices. The difference is not merely in the vocabulary, but the whole way in which a service is presented to the user on mobile including automatic updates, hard versus soft updates and the intelligence being split between the client and server component of the widget. The concept of one-widget-one-function will be the driving force behind mass user acceptance, as users like simple, one-click icons on their devices that perform a well-defined and useful function for them.

3). No product is complete without great packaging. For products like Coca Cola, packaging might be as obvious as using a bottle (instead of a box, let’s say!), but for software, packaging involves navigating the intricate web of standards, business models and partnerships. A lot of people associate the success of iPod with its looks and Apple’s marketing, but dig a little deeper and you cannot miss the profound impact of iTunes and iTunes Store (and the resulting deals with record labels) behind the success of iPod. They say that content is king on the web and there is no reason to believe otherwise for mobile. Google maps on the Apple iPhone is a great example of how a good partnership and packaging could work in the mobile world.

Google Maps is actually a great example of all of these three elements (great interface, widget-like architecture and good partnership) working together to deliver great content to users in great style. There are umpteen examples of each of the three elements successfully in play on the web, from Netflix to Amazon to blogs to Facebook. It’s only beginning in the mobile world and all the plumbing for a great user interface, packaging and content delivery are only beginning to be put in place. In a sense, it is still early days and the field is wide open.

Carriers are often accused of being “closed” to some applications that can hamper their revenue stream. However, if the above shifts do take place during 2008 and beyond, there is no reason for them to not wake up to the rising potential of mobile and the new revenue streams mobile software can offer them. The key still lies with the software vendors to provide useful applications in a manner that is easily understood and accessible by a lay user.

Dare I say then that 2008/2009 will be the year of the mobile?