2010: The year of mobile?

By Marty Carroll

Well, is this finally it? Is 2010 really the year of mobile? Each year since 2001 has been heralded as the year when the mobile internet would become a pervasive reality. After so many false dawns is there more reason to be optimistic this year?At Foviance we think there is. We’re pretty excited about it and here’s why:

Proliferation of devices – Apple’s iPhone has convinced the masses that using the internet on the move needn’t be painful. Google’s Android platform will make a huge push in 2010 in an attempt to knock Apple of its perch. Nokia, one of our own clients, can’t be discounted of course, with Gartner predicting that it will still control about 40 percent of the smartphone market in 2012. But we’re only talking about traditional handsets to this point. By the time you read this Apple will have announced the imminent launch of the iPad, and that too is certain to usher in a new frontier for mobile internet.

Intense competition – All of the titans, Google, Apple, Nokia and Microsoft, are going head-to-head to capture as much of the potential of mobile web as possible. This is inevitably going to get messy as they encroach on each other’s turf but it’s great news for consumers demanding more choice, device convergence and better user interfaces.

Location based services – Thanks to the trail blazed by the likes of FourSquare, Gowalla, Flook and Loopt we’re witnessing an explosion of services that combine geo-location with social and gaming features. And this is about to get much more serious as major brands recognise the immense opportunity presented by a location-aware mobile internet. Designing compelling and engaging user experiences for these services will require that companies are perfectly attuned to user needs and preferences.

Sheer numbers – Driving all of these developments are the vast numbers involved. IDC predicts that more than a billion mobile devices will be connected to the web by the end of 2010. Such numbers are ignored at peril.

Without doubt this will be a significant year in the mobile web space. It will be a challenge for brands to stay abreast of developments but, for those that do, there will be a world of opportunities to exploit. At Foviance we’ve been building our capability in mobile for years so we’re hoping that this is (finally]) the year of mobile!

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