Mobile Trends - 2013

Every new day is the birth of a new invention in Technology.  Everyday something new is created.  What Einstein quoted years ago still holds true that “It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.” (Albert Einstein)

I think we have a great track record on being relevant, on identifying consumer trends, needs and wants. The year 2012 finished with some great inventions in the field of mobile, especially the introduction of the iPhone 5 was a great success in the market.

Looking ahead at 2013, it seems that more Tablets, Smartphone, Android versions, Apple IOS versions are ready to hit the market with surprising new features. Especially there is a great competition on bringing the compatibility of windows 8 on all windows phones. Similarly, in the business field, Black Berry has already stepped up with its marvelous launch of BB Z10 and another anticipated Q10. eMarketer predicts that the rapid expansion of Smartphone and tablet user populations will cause marketers to shift their ad spending from more traditional media to mobile at an increasing pace.

The question is not, “what Smartphones can do,” it’s “what can’t they do.”  The strategic imperative for organizations is to understand how they are going to meet the challenge of that change.

Here are few key mobile trends for marketers to grab opportunities in this year:

Quick Mobile Editing – The reason that most of the Smartphones in past few days were still losing their competition against the tablets was the need of editing real websites and the ability to use software such as visual studio and programming or web development applications. The reason was that these software weren’t 100% supported for mobile interface. However, companies these days are trying hard to create mobile interfaces for those applications whereby users will be able to create and edit data right from their mobile devices. An excellent approach was the entry of HTML5 web user interfaces which is predicted to be a mainstream in 2013. Why? HTML5 allows developers and designers to create one "universal" app without coding for each individual operating system. Similarly, their main hope is to create more real life applications, which will be able to support any interface and work seamlessly with them.

Location Based Services – A GPS function is located on most of the new devices to track current locations or to track your friends or family location when online updates that being shared among all social networks where to inform the location they are. GEO tagging is one of the best features, which was introduced with GPS.

Mobile Commerce – eMarket or eCommerce was what consumers were waiting for; to perform transaction on the go.  This has allowed companies and consumers to buy and sell right from their mobile phones. This trend will further grow in 2013 with retailers looking at new ways to attract and retain customers.

Mobile Apps – Tons of mobile applications are created these days and distributed in the online market worldwide. These applications are created for several different uses from gaming to entertainment to utility. The application downloads are increasing day by day and so more developers are getting on the bandwagon to create effect apps for every possible use. 

Storage – Cloud storage is another area that has gained momentum over the past few years. Storing important data and creating backups so as to use them and restore them as need are some of the most sought after uses for cloud. A use of cloud storage directly from the mobile device is what consumers need.  Cloud storage and cloud-based services like Dropbox, Google drive, Evernote, Sugar Sync, etc., will be important in the coming years, which will allow users to access and share information anywhere anytime. 

Object Recognition (OR) – “High End” devices have an increased sensor and processing capability that enables applications to recognize the user's surroundings, including specific objects of interest. OR provides an easy-to-use interface hence it is gaining popularity. The best feature launched last year  was the QR Code functionality where users are able to purchase or browse online by a simple capture of the QR code. Users will need to rely on the camera, as well as other device sensors to communicate when OR capabilities are combined with more-traditional app functions.

Mobile is a growing strategy for many companies as technology becomes more and more advanced, marketing will become more integrated and real-time where marketers will have to look forward in 2013 and beyond.